Hanging by a Moment
by arielx
Summary: The light side lost the war, and everyone Hermione loved had died. Hermione sends herself and Draco back in the time of the Marauders in hopes of stopping history before it happens. All Times rules are broken, as Hermione has nothing left to lose. Pre HBP
1. It All Falls Down

**Hanging by a Moment**

**Chapter One – It All Falls Down**

When you've been locked up for a year, you tend to think. A lot. You think about your life, the lives of your friends, hell, and the lives of your enemies too. You think about everything, because there is everything to think about, and you think about everything you would do if everything you knew and loved was taken away.

Hermione didn't understand why she let herself think these thoughts; she had no control what went on outside the thick walls of the Malfoy dungeons. She heard from the numerous guards and various deatheaters that the side she had forsaken her freedom to defend was quickly losing, and the unthinkable was suddenly very common and everyday occurrences. Hermione knew that her beloved Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall were dead, killed in a battle to defend the very last safe place in the entire magical world- Hogwarts. Hogwarts soon fell, and was turned into a fortress, a trophy if you please, for Voldemort and all his followers.

Hermione sobbed for days when a particularly nasty deatheater came to tell her the news of the departure of the Weasley family. Percy had turned against his family, seduced by the lure and temptation that only Voldemort could provoke in a young and impressionable man. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, along with five of their seven children were dead. Ron had been hiding with Harry when the red-haired family was poisoned in their home.

Hermione's own parents were wiped out long before she was captured. She didn't think there could be very many muggles left, muggleborns for that matter; in fact, she didn't quite understand why she was still breathing herself.

She figured she had been forgotten. Oh, not forgotten in the neglected way, the guards still fed her enough to keep going, and torment her enough with stories of her friends and their falls to give her haunting, horrific dreams that leave her in a cold sweat every night. But as far as the boss's, Voldemort and Lucius, she was left to simply exist.

Speaking of a Malfoy, She had rarely seen Draco in the three-hundred-sixty-five plus days she had been in his home. Oh sure, at first he was down with her everyday, relaying stories of the muggle killings and the various battles his master had won, but lately Hermione hadn't seen the shocking flash of white-blonde hair or the intense grey eyes of her former classmate.

Of course, Hermione wasn't awake all the time. Deep in the night, after re-adjusting herself to the cool dampness of her cell, the skittering of small claws of rats on the stone floor, and the annoyingly merry jingle of her cell key in the hands of the watchman, Hermione herself was studied very intently, by a pair of equally intent eyes.

Draco prided himself in having a thorough understanding of the human nature. A need for power, a hunger for respect, a greed for gold was what he knew, but to Draco, Hermione was an enigma, something that existed in his world, but fit in like a soggy puzzle piece-just barely.

Draco often wondered what it would be like to have a conversation with Hermione. He knew she was brilliant, she could easy match him on the intellectual level, although his pureblood pride made him sneer down at her in school…secretly, he wanted to just talk to her, just to see what made her tick.

He was even jealous of her at times. Hermione was the kind of person that demanded to be listened to, to be heard. She did things that many people (including him) scoffed at her for, but she stuck to her guns and kept fighting, and in the end sacrificing her freedom. Draco never really got a chance to do any of that sort of thing, or at least that's what he told himself. He sometimes wished that he could be heard, that he could make a difference in the way the world worked around him, but he couldn't, not with his father and his master around.

Draco was getting bored of the war. In all honesty, he didn't really care who won, he just wanted it over with. Draco had seen too much, heard too much, done too much to even care anymore. He wished Potter would hurry up and defeat Voldemort, because Harry had to defeat him, it was the way the world worked.

Harry was another secret Draco had. After becoming a deatheater, Draco was exposed to the very things that made Harry who he was today. Draco saw whole families wiped out, hell, he saw the Weasleys get wiped out. He saw what Harry had lived through in the form of Voldemort, and silently respected his former classmate for still being alive. Maybe the dark haired boy was made out of stronger stuff than what people thought, Draco included.

And that's how Draco deducted that the light side would win. Even though Dumbledore had gone down with Hogwarts, surely the golden boy couldn't fail; fate couldn't possibly be that cruel.

But then again, fate is a tricky thing, and fate led Draco to a night that would change his life forever.

Early on a dreary Tuesday morning, one of Draco's personal house elves woke him with a simpering whine.

"Master Lucius wishes to see you sir!" The house elf said breathlessly, and before Draco could yell, or hit, or even open his eyes, the elf was gone.

Draco dragged himself out of bed and attempted to wake up. He threw about some charms for this and that and descended the large front staircase of the manor, and into his father's study.

"Father?" Draco asked uncertainly, "You wished to see me?"

Lucius Malfoy was certainly looking well these days. His long blonde hair was tied at the nape of his neck with a piece of dark green velvet, and his robes were of matching color, probably costing a small fortune in itself. He was standing at one of the large oak bookcases, a large tome in his hands. He looked up casually at his son, meeting the stormy grey eyes that they shared.

"Draco, today will be a day that people will very well remember for hundreds and hundreds of years from now," Lucius paused, waiting for his son to prompt him. When no sound escaped his son's lips, Lucius continued.

"Today is the day Harry Potter will die."

Draco would have sniggered at the terribly cliché phrase his father had used, but the look his father had in his eyes made Draco go cold all over. He meant it, today was it. Draco was getting his wish; the war would be over today.

Hermione woke with a start. Her heart pounded so loudly in her chest she wanted to whisper for it to be quiet. Something was happening right then, but she had no idea what it was, and no way to stop it.

Draco's boots pounded loudly in the halls of Hogwarts. Although far from the school it used to be, everything around him was still the same. The trophy room remained untouched, the classrooms much as they were the day the students left, and the great halls ceiling was still reflecting the grey sky that was outside.

Draco walked through the halls, feeling lost in a place that once felt like a home. He passed a portrait of a young girl and boy, the first heads of Hogwarts. Even they seemed to feel the deadly calm that was upon them. Draco moved onward.

At last he arrived at his destination. He pulled open the portrait of a very large woman in a pink dress and climbed through the doorway she was hiding.

Bright splashes of scarlet and gold met his silver eyes. A roaring fire was in the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room, even though no one had been there in a year. The house elves were deadly loyal until the end.

Draco walked over to the fireplace, it was so warm in here, so unlike his own dungeon commons, which were always damp, no matter how big a fire they had. He stepped over to one of the armchairs in front of the fire and sank down onto it and closed his eyes. He was so tired, and the day ahead of him was approaching like a terrible storm, quiet until it was right upon you.

Hermione was sitting in her cell, huddled in a corner. She had her knees drawn up to her chest and she hugged them tight. She longed for something soft to hold, a blanket, a teddy bear, Harry or Ron, anything to make the feeling she had go away. Hermione suddenly felt like she was the only living thing in Malfoy Manor, and maybe the entire world.

She felt the shift in energy, she could feel something coming at her, like a speeding locomotive, but as she waited for the collision, nothing came, just the sound of water in another cell, and her soft cries for her friends.

Draco woke up to the sound of a deafening explosion. He hadn't meant to fall asleep! He raced to one of the windows and looked at the scene that was unraveling under him.

Creatures of every shape and size battled it out amongst the various wizards and witches, both good and evil. Dementors where kissing all whom they could, including deatheaters, whereas giants were fighting giants, unsure of whom they were actually going after.

Draco saw people he recognized at once. He saw Hagrid, who stuck out amongst the smaller wizards; Hagrid was sticking deatheaters left and right with his little pink umbrella. Draco recognized his former defense against the dark arts professor, Remus Lupin, as he tore apart the enemies with his hands as well as his wand; he was a force to be reckoned with. Draco saw his own father, killing one of the Creevy brothers, alongside Goyle senior and Knott, they all looked like they were having a disturbingly good time.

Draco's eyes flashed through the scene. A girl with bubblegum pink hair was fighting beside Padma Patil, and Bellatrix Black was Avadaing every single person in her path, not even taking the time to crucio anymore.

Draco continued to search, almost frantically, for a flash or red hair and a skinny black haired boy with glasses, but Potter and Weasley seemed to be absent, until…

Draco saw Peter Pettigrew, a disgusting man who resembled a very large rat, Apparate out of no where, followed closely by a man so snake-like, it had to be Voldemort. Draco also saw that as soon as the dark Lord himself arrived on the scene, fashionably late, so-to-speak, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley materialized from under what looked like an invisibility cloak.

Draco had to grin to himself. Of course Harry had been there the whole time; he probably wouldn't have missed this battle for the world. Then again, this battle _was_ for the world. He wondered how Voldemort managed to Apparate on Hogwarts grounds though; Draco had read in some book it was impossible.

It was as though a separate battle was going on, the main battle on the left of the Hogwarts grounds raged on without looking like it was ever going to end…and then the smaller battle on the right, which consisted of only four people.

The four men seemed to look at each other in the eye in turn before anyone moved. Draco, from up in the tower, could practically feel the energy radiating off of Harry. Draco felt that if he moved he was going to bring all of Gryffindor tower down with him, and so he stayed in placed, transfixed by what he was witnessing.

Harry and Ron started to fire curses at Wormtail, curse after curse, hurling everything they could at the overgrown rat. Voldemort look on, with an expression of harsh amusement on his snake-like face.

Finally Wormtail started to reflect the onslaught of beams of light. He fired a few back as well, but nothing strong enough to severely hurt Harry and his best friend.

"YOU'RE NOTHING PETTIGREW!" Harry screamed through the cries of others. "YOU ARE AS WORTHLESS AS A MAN AS YOU WERE A FRIEND! MY FATHER WAS TWICE THE MAN YOU'LL EVER BE, AND YOU HAD SEVENTEEN YEARS TO BETTER YOURSELF! YOU'RE DEAD WORMTAIL!"

"You know n-nothing Potter!" Peter shouted back in a terrified and mildly squeaky voice. "Your f-father was a conceited g-git! Him and Sirius d-deserved what they got, and now, you're going to join them!" Peter took a shaky breath and looked like he was about to pass out cold when- "A-avada Kedavra!"

Harry saw the green beam of light hurling towards him, and closed his eyes for a split second. He felt the wind get knocked out of him as the light reflected off of him, as though he had on an invisible shield. Suddenly, Harry remembered.

"YOU OWE YOUR LIFE TO ME PETTIGREW!" Harry shouted. "A LIFE DEBT TO YOUR BEST FRIENDS SON! IT BOUNCED OFF!"

"And yet, the spell wasn't wasted," Peter said in a deadly calm as he gazed at the ground behind Harry, an evil grin had formed on his lips. Startled, Harry followed the rats gaze…right down to Ron's lifeless body.

Hermione screamed as though she was getting shot through with the crutacious curse. She bolted up from her huddled position in the cell and looked around wildly. She ran to the bars of her cells and screamed out for a guard, but there were none. It seemed she was right in thinking the entire Manor was empty. She began to pace and bite her dirty nails. Something was happening! Something bad was happening…

From up in the tower, Draco watched it all with horrified fixation. Weasley just died. The Weasel died. The poor excuse of a pureblood died. Years and years of taunting and fighting flashed like fire before Draco's eyes. He staggered for a moment and then resolutely stood straight up, determined to watch as Harry finished the Dark Lord. Draco continued watching, and choked back something that felt terribly like a sob.

Harry looked up from his best friend's body into the eyes of his murderer.

"You're dead," he whispered in a deadly quiet voice, and before Peter could react, Harry was on top of him punching and hitting. Peter couldn't react to the pre rage that was pouring out of the skinny boy. Harry had enough, Peter had caused him so much pain, and Harry was tired of it. He was tired of hurting. He wanted this traitor to feel the hurt he had endured for the last seventeen years. With one last shoot of strength, Harry plunged his wand straight through Peter's Adams apple.

Peter met Harry's brilliant green eyes for a moment of terror and pain before death glazed them over. Harry wrenched his wand from the rats throat in a daze, before the sound of clapping brought him back.

"Bravo, Potter." Voldemort was standing about five feet away, wearing a terrible grin on his pasty face. "Bravo indeed. It seems you finally did get revenge for your parents."

"I'm not done yet." Harry said through clenched teeth. "I killed their betrayer, but I haven't finished yet with their murderer."

Voldemort gave a somber chuckle. "Look around you boy! Don't you see that you have lost? Don't you see that this is the end of the old era, a new one is rising?"

Harry did look around. He looked to the separate battle going on, and watched as his friends fell to the deatheaters. He knew then, in his heart, there was no side to win for, but there were two deaths he would avenge.

Draco watched from Gryffindor tower as Harry and Voldemort exchanged words and informalities. Draco, however much he hated to admit it, felt his respect for Harry grow. Draco had never seen someone do anything other than cower in front of the Dark Lord, himself included. He watched as Harry and Voldemort glared at each other, both glowing with magical energy. He saw Peter and Ron's bodies on the ground, lifeless and growing cold.

"Are you ready to end this, Boy?" Voldemort hissed to his opponent. Before Harry could even nod, He hit him with the killing curse, Harry reflected it easily with his wand.

"Don't you remember?" Harry shouted as the winds picked up. "Our wands will not fight one another!"

"Of course, Boy," Voldemort said, "That is why I brought this."

From out of his dark cloak, Voldemort pulled out a long, angry looking weapon. It looked like it was either a very long knife, two feet long, or a somewhat short sword. It's handle glittered with onyx and emerald and a serrated edge gave it a look of something that wanted to mutilate its victim, rather than simply kill it.

Harry swore under his breath. He didn't know if the knife had magical properties, but he didn't know if his wand alone would help him now. He suddenly wished he had the sorting hat once more, to bring him the sword that had been in Dumbledore's office. No doubt now some nameless deatheater had a hold of it, that thought alone made Harry seethe with anger.

"Come on boy," Voldemort taunted. "We will see once and for all who is the greater wizard."

Voldemort advanced and Harry ducked the mans blows. Again and again Harry moved, shouting curses the entire way. The knife Voldemort held seemed to give its holder incredible speed, and Voldemort was using it for all it was worth.

Finally, Voldemort disappeared all together, leaving Harry circling around and around wildly, looking for his adversary.

Draco too, looked wildly around the grounds for the Dark Lord. He had apparated, that was apparent, but how? Hogwarts was famous for it's wards to keep anyone from apparating in and out. Voldemort must have destroyed it.

Suddenly, with a huge crack in the air, Voldemort appeared behind Harry and plunged the knife straight through his back. The dark haired boy staggered with shock for a moment, before falling for good. There was no Dumbledore or Ron or Hermione to help him this time.

Draco staggered back himself, and before he decided to apparate, the bone chilling laugh of the victorious Dark Lord rang through his ears.

Draco ran through the guard-less dungeons like a man possessed. He had to see her, he needed to know that something was still stable in this world that finally turned completely upside down. He wanted to see Hermione Granger alive, even though he had just witnessed two parts of her die.

And he did find her. Fumbling with the lock an his wand, he managed to open the wrought iron cell bars and found her crumpled in a heap on the far corner of her cell.

"Granger!" He yelled at her, falling to her side. He shook her but to no avail. "GRANGER! Come on Hermione! Wake up!"

And to her surprise, she did. She opened her eyes wide to being yelled at, and they immediately hardened at what she saw in front of her. Draco almost expected her to slap him, like she had so many years ago, but she barely had enough energy to talk.

"I know, Malfoy," she said in a deathly quiet whisper. "I know they're dead. I felt them die. I died."

Draco didn't know what to say, or what to do. He didn't even know why he was there, holding a mudblood in his arms in a cell he locked for the first time himself. But there he was. There he was holding on to the last thing that felt familiar to him.

"I saw them die." He said, not unkindly. Hermione closed her eyes. "I saw then die, Granger, and they died honorably. Pettigrew killed Weasley, and Potter killed Pettigrew. The Dark Lord killed Potter. And that was it."

"Why are you doing this?" Hermione asked, her eyes still closed. "How can you be so cruel?" Tears were falling down her cheeks.

"I saw them die." Draco continued, I've seen a lot of people die. I killed a lot of people. But Potter was supposed to win! He was meant to live! Nothing good can come out of this world anymore. The light has gone out forever." Draco looked down at her, and was started to see that he was crying, and one of his own tears had just grazed Hermione's cheek.

Hermione suddenly opened her eyes. Why was he crying? He sounded so sorry…so lost. She cried harder and reached out to hold on to him. She was lost too.

Draco didn't know what to do now. The war was done. His fate was sealed. He should have been happy, but here he was, in a dirty dungeon, holding onto a girl he spent the better part of his life learning how to hate.

They sat there for ages. Both crying silently, and both holding on to their last anchor in a world that was falling away from them.

_Potter never had a chance._ Draco thought. _He had no warning, no idea what was coming. All he had was a wand, and his wits. He was a Gryffindor, they don't have wits. If only I could change it, if only I could go back and make a difference…_

And then it came to him like a bolt of lightning. Back! Back in time! Was he a wizard or not? The answer was so simple, yet so genius, he thought for a moment about transferring to Ravenclaw…that is, if it worked, and there was a Ravenclaw to go transfer to.

"A time turner!" He said aloud, jerking Hermione up from her thoughts.

"What?" She asked, clearly confused.

"A time turner! He said again, growing increasingly excited. "I can go back, warn Potter…And Weasley too." He said in an afterthought. "I will tell them, tell them how to change the future, how to win! They didn't have a chance, I can set things right!"

Hermione sat up and wiped her eyes with a dirty piece of her robes.

"That's a good idea…" she said slowly, trying to make her brain focus. "But you don't know where the Order's base is located, and do you really think they will believe you?"

Draco stopped short. He hadn't got that far. "Come with me." He said after a moment. "They'll believe you, and you know where they would be."

"Why should I listen to this?" Hermione asked angrily. "I show you where the base is, and then you'll have everything you need for a clean sweep of the few decent people left!"

Draco's eyes clouded over. "The few decent people left are dead, Granger." He said. "I watched them all die. There is nothing decent left, and now I'm offering you a way to change it. Don't let your pride stand in the way this time. Come with me."

Hermione thought for a few seconds, and then something in her brain clicked. A time turner was a powerful device, and as far as she knew, Draco didn't know how to use one, but she did.

"Have you ever used a time turner before?" She asked. "Do you know how to operate one? Because too many turns can have very different results from what you started out with."

"No," Draco admitted. "I never used one. "I only know where my father keeps his, I'm sure it can't be too hard."

"I know how to use one." Hermione said, somewhat proudly. "I used one throughout our entire third year. "I'll come with you."

Draco's eyes widened. This was it. "Follow me," he said. "All the guards are gone, but we haven't got a lot of time."

"What about my wand?" Hermione asked. "I want it, I don't feel safe without it."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her, but she seemed completely honest about not feeling safe. "It's in my fathers study, along with everything else, we'll get it."

He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She coughed like mad but didn't complain, and he led the way out of the dungeon and into the manor.

Hermione didn't have time to marvel at the vastness that was Draco's home, but if she did, she would have stopped dead and let her mouth hang open. It was easily the same size as Hogwarts, at least what she could see of it, and although the air was thick with dark magic and dread, she had to admit that the Malfoy's had impeccable taste.

Draco led her through the door into a very large study; it was filled with eerie looking books and loads of parchment. To the left she saw a galas case filled with hundreds of wands, but she easily spotted hers. She pointed it out to Draco, and he retrieved it for her.

"Don't try anything." He said warningly. "I really am trying to help."

Strangely enough, Hermione believed him, and almost felt bad about what she was going to do, but his own words rang in her ears. _This was a way to change everything._ And change everything was exactly what she was going to do.

Hermione had nothing left. Everyone, everything she loved was dead and gone. Hermione was a changed woman. Seventeen years old and already seen more than her fair share of pain, something inside of her finally snapped. She could change everything. Everything! And the strange thing was, Draco Malfoy was giving her the opportunity to do just that, quite unknowing of course.

"Here it is!" Draco's victorious cry sounded across the room. He was at his fathers desk, a large drawer open in front of him.

Hermione saw the time turner. It was different than the ministry issued one she received when she was thirteen. They were similar in structure, but this turner was silver and black, whereas the ministry one was gold and white.

"An evil time turner," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "How lovely."

"It's not evil!" Draco said angrily. "It was just made for my father is all. It has a forward and back device, so you don't get stuck somewhere. It's, er, well, let's just say it aided our side quite a bit."

"You mean you _cheated_?" Hermione said shrilly. "You cheated in the war by using time?"

Draco felt his face grow warm with anger. "That's funny." He said coolly. "You don't seem to mind cheating if it benefits you."

Hermione shrugged and walked over to Draco and took the time piece.

"You know how to work it?" Draco asked. "You know how many turns to use? I was thinking we would just go back a day, you know, to give us enough time and all."

Hermione merely nodded, almost afraid of what to do next. She knew how to use time turners alright, she knew how to use them inside out, she read all about them…but she didn't know if her next move was a smart one…there was so much at stake. _Most of which she already lost._

"Grab my hand." Hermione said quietly.

Draco looked at her. "I thought we both just had to wear the necklace. That's what my father did.

"Your father is an idiot." Hermione said flatly, "Take my hand or I'm leaving you here."

Draco didn't know what had come over her, but did as he was told.

Hermione took a breath, a vision of Harry and Ron floating in her mind, and before Draco could stop her…

Hermione threw the fragile turner to the stone floor and shouted "1977!" It blew up and shattered into a million tiny pieces, hurling glass and dust everywhere.

With that, the two of them went hurling into space, knocked unconscious by the blast.

(A/N)

Okay, just in case you're confused… Remember, I started writing this after the Order of the Phoenix came out, so consider it slightly AU. I'm disregarding everything in HBP and DH. As for the time turner smashing…Hermione had read somewhere that by breaking a time turner, you really can screw up time, therefore, she smashed the turner on the ground and yelled out the year she wanted, because these turners aren't made for year jumps, merely hours. Draco, obviously, didn't know she was going to change EVERYTHING, but she is. This fic is not about going by the rules of time, Hermione has lost everything she ever cared about, and now she's going to change it all. I have the next three chapters written, I just want to go over them again for mistakes


	2. Here Without You

**Hanging by a Moment**

**Chapter Two – Here Without You**

Vaguely Hermione heard someone groaning beside her. She tried to block the sound out by squeezing her eyes tight shut, but to no avail. She was afraid the guards had left her a surprise in her cell, but as the groaning got louder, her conscious got the better of her and she opened her eyes.

She wasn't in her cell. She wasn't even in Malfoy Manor. A bright blue sky was smiling down at her and she could hear a chirping sound in the distance. Chirping. She hadn't heard such a happy sound in so long; she forgot what it was for a moment.

Finally it hit her. It wasn't a dream or a figment of her weary mind, she had smashed a time turner, and now here she was, back in 1977.

She turned to see a boy with very light blonde hair laying beside her, still groaning and rubbing his head. She rolled her eyes and proceeded to stand up on wobbling legs.

"Come on Malfoy, We have nearly three decades of work to do." She told her companion. He bolted upright and looked around wildly.

"Bloody fucking hell Granger! What in Merlin's name did you do?" He said angrily.

"We went back in time, just like you suggested." Hermione said, biting back a smug smile.

"I wanted to go back 24 hours, where the hell are we now? That was not a one day blast, and why did you smash the time turner? Now there will be no way to get back!"

"It's 1973. I had to smash it to get this far back, and of course we'll get back, time turners are not difficult to make, just dangerous if you don't know what you're doing." She folded her arms across her chest and glared right back at him, daring him to challenge her.

And, of course, challenge her he did. He got up and brushed his hands on his pants and looked at her with a steely gaze. "Do you realize how completely stupid you are?" He asked angrily. "This could change everything! How can you mess with time like this? Everything we know could be destroyed!"

Hermione felt tears sting in her eyes. "Don't you understand Malfoy?" She asked, "Everything I know _has _been destroyed! There is nothing left for me to lose now! My life? There is nothing in my future now but sadness and death. I felt my friends _die_ Malfoy, I felt them both die, and now the only thing I had left was to die myself. You offered me a chance to change it, and you had better fucking believe I'm going to try. Destroy everything? Nothing is left. I couldn't screw the world up anymore than it already is." She held his gaze, her tears threatening to fall.

To her surprise, Draco smirked. "How very Slytherin of you, Granger, I didn't know you had it in you."

"I didn't a year ago," Hermione said quietly, her gaze drifting to a large tree. "But look at how time has already changed me."

Draco stared at her intently as she attempted to clean up her dirty and ragged robes with her wand. The proud Gryffindor emblem still stood out against the black of her school robe. Draco was wearing just plain (but none the less expensive) black robes.

"So what's your plan now, Granger?" He asked while he watched her perform a cleaning charm on herself. "Ready to shout to the entire countryside about the impending doom of wizard kind?"

"This isn't the countryside, Malfoy," she answered impatiently. "This is just the outskirts of Hogsmead village. And I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do yet…I hope I got the year right…I didn't have a lot of time to calculate, I could be completely off…" She trailed off into her own thoughts.

"Damn right you're completely off," Draco scoffed. "What calculations? What's so special about 1973?"

Hermione snapped back to attention, and then said with half a grin: "If I'm right, 1973 was the year Harry's parents were 7th years at Hogwarts."

Draco froze. "And what are you going to tell them? Hi, my name's Hermione, I'm from the future, but you're not. In fact, your future ends in about eight years, have a nice life!"

"No, you twit." Hermione said. "I know how they died; I know how to prevent it."

"No one lived once the Dark Lord decided to kill them." Draco answered matter-of-factly. "Not even Potter."

Hermione bit her lip to fight her tears. "I know the details," She insisted. "I know what went wrong, and I'm going to change it. I don't think it would do to just barge in and announce ourselves, though, they'd never buy it, especially Professor Lupin…oh dear, he's not a professor yet, is he?"

"Lupin was friends with Harry's parents?" Draco asked, slightly interested.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin…and Peter Pettigrew." She said the last name like it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Wait," Draco said, "you mean to tell me all those people are friends, now? Pettigrew was his _friend_?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "And he betrayed them. He was the real guilty person for everything Sirius was blamed for. I'll never forgive him for that. I don't know what I'm going to do when I see him. I'll never be able to put up an act."

"An act?" Draco asked. "What act? Did you decide what you want to do?"

"We're going to pose as students." Hermione said thoughtfully. "Yes, we'll pose as students. I'll go to Dumbledore and say we've just moved here, we can be transfer students of some sort…I'm not sure. He never asks many questions, as long as you're cheerful and like lemon drops…and we can befriend them, get them to trust us so they don't think we're completely nutters for telling them we're from the future. Come on Malfoy, I need to do this before I lose my nerve." She started off towards the town, not even looking back for Draco. This annoyed him slightly.

Hermione and Draco walked up a familiar path to the school.

"Okay," Hermione said. "It seems as though it's about autumn. I bet the school year just started. If we play our cards right, we can just slip into the school life unnoticed. If anyone asks, we just transferred here this semester and are just terribly confused. We better find someone who can help us."

"Yeah yeah," Draco mumbled. "I can't believe I'm stuck in the past with a Gryffindor who's just lost the few marbles she had left."

Hermione just glared at him and continued walking, finally finding herself in front of the immense doors of the castle. "Do we knock?" she asked unsurely. "I don't know what to do!"

With an impatient sigh, Draco went up to the door and pulled it open. For being so big, it was very easy to pull. He stepped aside and with a sweeping gesture, beckoned Hermione to go in first. She took a timid step forward before strengthening her resolve and walked in with her head high. Draco followed, pulling the door closed.

Hermione stared up at her school. It looked just like before, but she felt like she was in an old movie. Students were walking around in groups of three or more, talking and laughing. Hermione nearly cried at the sight. She hadn't seen people her own age (or, well, you know) in ages. She felt she could do anything now. She noticed that their robes were a slightly different fashion than the ones she was wearing now. She scanned the crowd for a familiar face, but to no avail.

"Malfoy, I don't recognize anyone!" She muttered miserably. "How are we going to be able to do anything if I don't recognize anyone?" She felt slightly light headed, and swayed in place for a moment.

"Granger, you okay?" Draco asked, looking a bit concerned. "You look kind of pale."

"I'm a little hungry." Hermione admitted. "I haven't eaten anything for awhile, they forgot during all this attack excitement."

Draco looked slightly more alarmed. "Alright then, we'll jut get you to the kitchen, I know where to go."

"But we have to find someone to talk to!" Hermione said, even though she was following him. "We don't have time!"

"We have all the time in the world." Draco said simply. "Relax."

They were in a corridor now, and Draco could see the familiar painting of fruit at the end "Come on Granger, just a little further." Draco coaxed. "I'm hungry too."

But Hermione didn't reply. Her legs began to feel heavier and heavier, and Draco watched in shock as her eyes rolled back into her head and Hermione went down in a dead faint.

"Granger? Granger come on, wake up.."

"That's her name? Granger?"

"No you git, her surname is Granger, her first name is Hermione."

"That's a pretty name."

"Okay, sure, now, can you get her up?"

Hermione heard voices arguing over her head. _Someone said her name was pretty_. She thought. It didn't sound like Draco's voice though, he must be the other. She felt like she knew that voice, but….couldn't place it. Slowly she opened her eyes, and found herself staring into the bright blue eyes of Harry Potter.

Wait.

Bright _blue_?

"Aaaarrrghgghhh!" Hermione bolted up and knocked heads with said blue eyes boy. She scrambled back and felt herself collide with another person.

"Well James," The person behind Hermione chuckled. "I daresay that wasn't the first time a girl woke up seeing you and found herself saying those same, er, words."

Hermione turned around and found herself looking at a much younger, much cleaner, and very handsome Sirius Black.

"Ah!" She squeaked, although not as horrified as she was to see her best friend's father.

Sirius was crouched down on the ground looking very concerned. "You alright?" He asked.

Hermione's eyes were opened wide. Finally she took a deep breath and counted to three. She must have looked completely nutters to them.

_Them. _

She looked around her, and besides Draco, James, and Sirius, Hermione saw a tall, lean boy that looked like he had just gotten over the flu. Professor, er, Remus Lupin, and beside him was a much shorter and stockier boy. _Peter Pettigrew_.

Hermione was filled with such a rage she couldn't contain herself. She narrowed her eyes, but remembered that she had to stay calm.

"I'm sorry," She said to Sirius and James. "It's just that my friend and I have just transferred, and we're a bit lost. We were here at the beginning of the term, but somehow managed to get locked in a very odd room before we even made it to our dormitories. We now just got out, and I'm very hungry. That's why I fainted, I think." Hermione bit her lip, silently willing them to believe her.

"Merlin!" James said. "Start of term was three days ago! No wonder! Well, you picked a good place to collapse in front of, that's the kitchens that way. We'll get you something to eat."

Hermione let Sirius and James help her up and beckoned Draco to follow. Draco was looking quite put out.

"How did you know we were here?" Hermione asked once they were in the kitchen, surrounded by houselves.

"Well," Remus said slowly. "We saw you, you could say, and since we didn't recognize your names, we decided to come and get aquatinted. Good thing, eh?"

Hermione nodded. She didn't need him to elaborate. _The map_, she thought.

Hermione happily accepted the food the houselves were preparing for her, and decided now was a good a time as ever to start making friends.

"What year are you in?" Hermione asked, directing her questions towards James.

"Seventh," He replied. "I'm head boy." He puffed out his chest proudly. Hermione giggled and he noticed her robes, "I see the two of you are in Gryffindor, corrects? What year?"

Before Draco could protest, Hermione quickly answered: "Yes, both in Gryffindor. Correct. We were privately sorted and are in our seventh year as well."

Draco looked furious, Hermione looked delirious. Remus looked bemused. "It's strange that you were actually locked up," Remus said thoughtfully. "Usually the castle doesn't take prisoners."

Sirius looked at his friends and gave out a loud, barkish laugh. "Take prisoners Remus?" he howled. "Oh that's rich."

"Well…" Remus nodded and blushed a light pink. "You know."

Hermione looked at each of the friends and felt more alone than she ever had in her cell. She was here, with her best friends father, here without him. It didn't feel right, but…maybe she could make it so.

"What school are you from?" Little Peter Pettigrew spoke up, obviously very curious. Hermione fixed him with a look, but knew she couldn't blow the cover just yet.

"Place in America." She said shortly. "Privet school."

Peter looked taken aback at Hermione's tone of voice, and granted, he wasn't alone.

"Erm," Sirius cleared his throat. "bad time at school then?" He asked, almost meekly.

Hermione looked at him for a moment, then realized. "Oh! Well, yes, you could say it was a bad time…it was put under new management, and they didn't like muggleborns much."

James looked furious. "That's all the trouble with the world today! He said passionately. "No one should give a care what sort of blood you have! It's your talent and your personality that make you who you are!"

"I know that," Hermione said, crossing her arms. It took awhile for Draco here, but I think he's starting to realize it as well."

"Draco, eh?" Sirius snickered a little. "Family name, I expect, what did you say your surname was?"

"I didn't." Draco said shortly. "But it's Malfoy, if you're so inclined."

"Malfoy?!" Sirius stared at him, mouth agape. "Malfoy? How the hell are you a Malfoy? The last Malfoy at Hogwarts was Lucius, and he graduated three years ago!"

"There are more than just Lucius, Black," Draco said.

Sirius stared, and then Remus's eyes shot to Draco. "How did you know his name?" he asked suspiciously.

"Heard you lot say it." Draco lied quickly. "Didn't catch the rest of them though."

Harry's dad seemed to be by far the friendliest, and the least suspicious, and the least traitorous, and he pointed them all out in turn. "James Potter, at your service, Sirius Black, he's a dog, Remus Lupin, sly as a fox, and cunning as a wolf, and Peter Pettigrew, he can be a rat sometimes, especially over food."

The four boys shared very similar grins, and Hermione wished she could share in on the joke they had thought was clever and private.

As they were laughing, a very pretty red headed girl burst in on them, wand out.

"JAMES POTTER!" she yelled. "WHAT DO YOU THI-"she stopped short when she saw Hermione and Draco.

"What's all this?" She asked in a much quieter voice.

"Lily my dear," James said with a cheeky wink. "Meet Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, transfers from a private American school. They seem to have been locked up in a room since start of term, and I, being the gracious man and not to mention the best head boy ever, accompanied them to the kitchen for nourishment. Certainly that deserves a reward. Will you go out with me?"

Behind him Hermione could see Sirius rolling around in silent laughter while Remus just shook his head sadly, a small smile playing on his lips.

"First of all, Potter," Lily said with obvious distaste. "I'm not, nor will I ever be your dear, second, Welcome to Hogwarts Draco and Hermione, I'm Lily Evans, head girl and thirdly, the giant squid has beat you to it, Potter, sorry."

James looked completely unabashed by Lily's remark and bowed low. "Alright then, but word in the halls say that Squiddy already has a date with Millicent Brackyard. I shall wait to comfort your broken heart whenever you need me."

Lily gave an impatient sigh and turned to the new students. "I should go and inform Dumbledore of your rescue." She said with a grin. "Gryffindor robes I see, well, welcome also to the house, I'm sure you'll love it."

Hermione grinned and looked at Malfoy. Oh, yes, this could definitely be fun.

"Thanks, Lily," Hermione said. "Would it be okay to go to the dormitories now, I'm kind of beat."

"I'll escort you, my fair lady!" Sirius was immediately at her side, looping his arm through hers. "Have no fear, I'll be sure you get there safe and sound."

Hermione let out a weak giggle and beckoned a disgruntled Draco to follow them. Hermione knew where she was going, but Draco however, did not.

Hermione looked around the old castle, which was exactly the same as she had left it so many years in the future, except for what looked like almost deliberate mistakes. Suite of armor that she recognized from one part of the castle seemed to have become bored in the next few years and now stood by the Gryffindor portrait hole. Portraits where usually stationary, but there were a few less than in her time. It was a little disorienting.

"And here we are, m'lady," Sirius gave her a exaggerated bow and Hermione looked to the picture of a large woman in an unflattering pink dress.

"Er," Hermione said as convincingly as she could. "What now?"

"Password?" The rich voice of the fat lady asked the group below her.

"Chocolate pudding," James said with a grin, and beckoned the group to follow him into the scarlet and gold common room.

Draco visibly blinked his eyes several times, internally marking all the differences between his own common room and this unusually…._chipper_ one.

"Welcome to Gryffindor," James said with a smile. "The boys dorms are that way, girls that way.

Hermione turned around in a full circle, eyes threatening to betray her sadness. The Hogwarts she left was turned into a dark art academy, the Gryffindor tower probably destroyed. There was Harry's favorite armchair, right in the middle of Hermione and Ron's. Closest to the fire, they were always warm enough. There was the large work table that Hermione had often claimed all for herself on many occasions. The bulletin board where Fred and George Weasley advertised their jokes. Oh lord. This was hard.

"It's bright," Draco mumbled. "Very bright."

Sirius seemed to think this was incredibly funny, and let out a bark-like laugh. "'Course it's bright! What do you think we are? A bunch of Slytherins?"

James, Remus and Peter continued to laugh along with Sirius, whereas Draco's pale cheeks tinged a bit pink.

Just then the portrait behind them opened again and Lily Evans came through. Hermione glanced at James and watched as his eyes glazed over at the sight of her. He had it bad.

"Dumbledore has arranged for beds in the 7th year dorms." She said with a smile for Hermione and Draco. "You'll be in there with five other girls, Hermione, and there are two other 7th year boys besides these jokers, Draco."

James winked and Sirius laughed. Remus looked slightly offended. "Certainly you don't group me in the same category, Lily?" He said with a slight smile.

Lily looked at him and smiled back, and corrected herself. "Oh certainly not, Remus here is far better than the other three, and especially better than James and Sirius, you need to watch out for those two."

"I promise you'll never have to look out for me again if you go out with me," James said, grinning at Lily. "Come on Evans, just once."

"Quit wasting your breath Potter." Lily said impatiently. "I have some homework to do, I think I'll go upstairs." And with that she turned and left for the girls dormitory, leaving all the Marauders besides James chuckling.

"She loves me," James declared as he sank into a comfortable armchair by the fire. "She just doesn't know it yet,"

"Scary," Hermione said under her breath to Draco. "He's completely right."

"James is slightly delusional when it comes to the affections of the lovely Miss Evans," Sirius said with a playful grin. "Has been at it for about four years now."

"He asks her at least three times a day, seven on a good day," Remus added. "Really, when James wants something, he makes it a priority and will stop at nothing."

Hermione laughed along with the Marauders, while Draco kept back a little, still feeling out of place in the Gryffindor commons.

The six students sat in the various spots around the Gryffindor common room, Hermione occupying the Marauders minds with questions about Hogwarts that she knew already, and before long, Peter was stifling a yawn. It was nearing midnight.

"I think it's time to turn in," Remus said sleepily. "Double potions tomorrow."

Hermione and Draco glanced at one another before agreeing with the others. It had been a long day.

Hermione was quiet as she crept into the 7th year girl's dorm. A large four poster bed identical to the one she has later was waiting for her, magically appearing as soon as Dumbledore heard there was a need. Hermione climbed into it and sunk into the think down covers, remembering for a startling moment that she hadn't slept in a real bed in over a year.

She didn't dream at all that night.


	3. I Break in Two

**Hanging by a Moment**

**Chapter Three – I break in Two Over You**

Early the next morning Hermione awoke in the manner of a person would who had forgotten how she had come to be in the place they had awoken in. Her eyes flew open and she shot straight up in the comfortable bed, wondering wildly why she was there and not a cold prison. Her clouded mind wondered wildly if everything in the past year had been a dream, and now she was awake in her own time, her own tower, and a couple walls away her own friends were sleeping soundly, not knowing what their friend was going through.

As soon as she drew her curtain, however, she realized that wasn't the case. On her bedside chair the house elves had dutifully laid out a Gryffindor ensemble for Hermione to wear, probably on Dumbledore's orders, and Hermione could plainly see that they were not the style she was accustomed to.

It was clearly before dawn as Hermione looked out the window while dressing. The sun wouldn't rise for at least another half an hour. She made her way down the winding steps into the common room, and for some reason, wasn't surprised to see Draco sitting in Harry's favorite chair, staring intently into the fire.

She was surprised; however, to see that Draco was wearing robes identical to her own, it almost took her breath away.

"You tell anyone about this," Draco said without looking at her, "I will personally see to it that you are the one without a future."

Hermione giggled in spite of herself. "You got it, Malfoy." She said, taking a seat in her own chair. "What brings you here so early?"

"Probably the same reason for you. Couldn't sleep, woke up in a strange place. I feel like I'm in an alternate universe, and then I see these damnable robes sitting were my Slytherin ones usually are, you think you're in a strange place, try stepping in my shoes."

"I'm surprised you got into them without me having to threaten you," Hermione said with a smile. "Although I'll admit it's a bit unnerving."

Draco smirked. "Then at least I accomplished something today."

Hermione laughed and threw a pillow at him playfully. He threw it back and they stopped at stared at one another for a moment, sizing each other up, almost as if looking at one another for the first time…or in a whole new light.

"I still don't trust you." Hermione said bluntly. "But you're the only thing I have left from a life I loved, and so…I need you." She finished in a very quiet voice.

Draco felt his heart quicken at Hermione's brutal honesty, and then felt it skip when he realized he felt exactly the same. If waking up beside Gryffindor robes had unnerved him, realizing he depended on Hermione Granger launched him over the moon.

"What are you doing to me, Granger?" Draco said in a deathly whisper. Hermione looked confused.

"What?"

"How are you making me feel like I've never actually known you before? How are you making me want to know you?"

Hermione looked, well, surprise would be an understatement. "Maybe it's the times." Hermione said in quiet sort of voice. "In this time…maybe we're not supposed to hate one another, because we don't actually exist."

Draco seemed pacified by this. "And when we get back, will things go back to normal?" he asked.

Hermione looked at him. "That's exactly what I don't want to happen, Draco."

They sat there in silence for a while, both looking into the fire for some sort of familiar comfort, but finding none. It was like this that the Marauders found them.

"You two do realize breakfast doesn't start for another hour?" James asked, after suppressing a yawn.

"You four are up," Hermione retorted, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "James here insists on getting up before Lily does, so that she can't avoid him straight away in the morning."

Hermione giggled. Draco looked amused.

"Speaking of which," Peter said, looking towards the girl's stairway. Lily was descending down the stairs with another seventh year girl.

"Good morning Miss Evans," James pounced on her as soon as she was down the stairs.

Potter," Lily said coolly. "Please, I'm hungry, I want to go to breakfast and then I have some potions homework to check."

"How about breakfast together and I'll help you check it?" James asked hopefully.

"Not today, Potter." Lily said stepping around him, and she left through the portrait hole.

"It was a good try, mate." Sirius said to James with a pat on the back, "Maybe you'll catch her off guard during lunch."

James, like always, didn't looked abashed at the brush off, he had a determined look in his blue eyes, a look Hermione recognized instantly from the look Harry's green eyes would get when faced with a challenge. Hermione looked away and her eyes settled on Remus, who was watching the portrait where Lily had been just moments before.

"So," Peter said. "Breakfast anyone?"

Hermione was unsurprisingly excited to go to class. Not only had she not attended one in over a year, but it would be completely turned about. Potions, for example…

Severus Snape's predecessor was a rather old which by the name of Professor Meg. Hermione was reminded of Professor Sprout, but Professor Meg was much sharper than Hermione's old herbology teacher.

Hermione also got her first glimpse of Severus Snape in potions. A greasy haired boy who stood hunched over his cauldron during class, she was interested to see how he was as a child. He only somewhat resembled the man he was to be, he lacked the air of purpose and confidence that Hermione supposed the war would give him.

Just as promised, James asked Lily out again at lunch, saying something that Hermione couldn't quite here, but earned James a lapful of mashed potatoes.

"Does he really ask her out that often?" Hermione asked Sirius, who along with the rest of the Gryffindors, didn't seem to think anything was amiss as James swore loudly and went about cleaning himself up.

"For about three years now." Sirius said with a grin. "I think she does like him, but figures the shock would just kill him."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully and Draco leaned over to whisper to her. "How the hell did Harry's parents ever get together?" He asked. "His mom hates his father!"

"Something happens this year." Hermione replied quietly. "I'm not sure if we should wait for them to get together before we do anything, if we interfere before they get together, Harry may never be born."

"Not a bad idea," Draco smirked and winked at Hermione, and then it was Draco who earned a lapful of mashed potatoes.

Hermione was afraid of heights. It was a simple enough fear, really. She avoided brooms and trees and other things high up. Everything except the quiddich stadium.

For some odd reason, she loved the quiddich stadium. She loved the hoops and the stands and during games she loved the energy and the people and watching Harry win every time. And now, she loved the familiarity.

She was completely alone, as no game was scheduled that soon in the school term. Back in her own time she would come to the stadium and sit in the stands and read when the common room was too noisy and the library too constricting. But now she was just simply thinking again, now that she had the power to act on her thoughts.

The weight of her rash actions had finally hit her full force when she realized that she had to time everything so perfectly. There was a chance Lily and James would still get together after a bit of shocking news, but was it worth the gamble? How long would it take Lily and James naturally become drawn to one another? Hermione knew she had years really, until they died, but why wait? Was Peter betraying them right as she sat? Was Snape a deatheater this exact moment? Could she really change everything? What was she really willing to risk? Yesterday, in her rash decision to come back to this time, Hermione had declared she would risk everything, and she still would, but what if the outcome wasn't what she wanted? Hermione doubted things could get worse than they were in the future, but still, the little seed of doubt had planted itself in her heart, and the old, rational, smart Hermione surfaced over the new and war-tired one, trying to tell her she was being stupid. Was she stupid?

Hell no.

This was all that was left, and Hermione was going to win.

She just had to make the right friends.

Severus Snape was in the library, his sanctuary, his home away from home. No one ever disturbed him, no one was that stupid.

Obviously, no one told Hermione.

"Hello," Hermione said, taking a seat across from her future professor. "My name is Hermione Granger." Severus didn't say anything, but he did look up from his text long enough to glare.

"Listen," Hermione said in a careful voice. "If I told you I hold a lot of respect for you and your knowledge, what would you say?"

Severus looked up again and stared at her. "I'd say you wanted something, and get the hell away from me, mudblood."

Hermione, instead of frowning or scolding his for his use of language, smiled and replied. "That's very Slytherin of you, Severus, however, I am not a Slytherin, and so you'll have to realize you are quite wrong."

A clouded sort of look crossed over Severus' young face, as if trying to process what it was exactly Hermione had just said. The cloud passed and he smirked. "Very clever mudblood, is it a battle of wits you want?"

Hermione grinned. "If you insist."

Hermione and Severus spent more than an hour in the library, debating, insulting, and all around earning each others respect.

"I have to admit," Severus said, as he prepared to clean up his things after an interesting debate over elfish rights. "You're too smart for Ravenclaw, too bold for Hufflepuff, and, although it hurts me to say it, too cunning for Slytherin, why Gryffindor?"

Hermione shrugged and smiled. "Maybe I've got some bravery in me somewhere."

"Well, hope you never have to find out." Severus replied.

_Too late. _Hermione thought. "This was refreshing." Hermione said. "I've never had a friend who could match me in a debate, they just back off and assume I'm right."

Severus looked up sharply. "Friend?" he asked, staring at her.

Hermione gulped. "Well, yeah, if you'll have me."

Severus gave her a glare then smirked. "And I've never had a friend who was in Gryffindor. I guess there's a first for everything."

Hermione went to take her leave of the library. "Good bye Severus." She said.

"Goodbye…Hermione."

Hermione waltzed into the Gryffindor common room in time to catch Draco in the act of playing exploding snap with James, Sirius, and Peter. Hermione grinned victoriously and Draco looked slightly ashamed.

Hermione took in the sight. Draco Malfoy was playing exploding snap with a Harry replica. It was off, but somehow comforting. There would be time to taunt him later; however, Hermione was on another kind of mission.

She scanned the room. There were the boys on the floor playing cards, some girls trying out some cosmetic charms in the corner, Remus reading a book in a chair by the fire, Lily working on some homework at one of the work tables…aha.

Hermione walked over to Lily and sat down across from her just like she had Severus. Lily's welcome was much warmer.

"Hello there," Lily said with a smile. "Did you need help with anything?"

Hermione returned the smile. "No, actually, I just wanted some girl talk, and you're the only girl who has actually introduced herself. It gets sort of dull with just boys to talk to."

Lily looked relieved to have a distraction from her homework. "Well that's the truth!" She said with a laugh. "Especially those four, their trouble makers."

Hermione was glad Lily started in on the subject. "And James," Hermione said slowly. "He seems to be the sort of head trouble maker, huh?"

An expression flickered in Lily's eyes that Hermione couldn't quite place. "Yes," Lily replied. "James is one of his own. You never quite know what's going on in his brain."

"Yeah," Hermione said, readying herself for her next daring move. "Is that why you like him so much?"

"Maybe…" Lily said, absentmindedly and then her eyes shot up to Hermione's and she clasped her hand over her mouth.

Hermione grinned and winked at her. Lily turned bright red. "That was very Slytherin of you, Hermione." She said warily.

"I've been getting that a lot today," Hermione said brightly. "So anyway, let's talk about what you're going to name your future kids…"

"You WILL?!"

Hermione looked over in time to see James slump to the floor as Lily, Draco, and the marauders looked on in amusement.

"Always thought the shock would kill him," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Good job Lily; you finally found a way to shut him up."

Lily gave a weak grin. "So what now?" She asked, motioning to the lump that was James.

"This is the part where you kiss the handsome prince and he wakes up." James said from the floor in an over exaggerated stage whisper.

And to everyone's surprise, but most of all James', Lily did just that.

"I can't believe you made friends with Snape."

Hermione and Draco were on one of the Gryffindor couches, both having given up on sleep altogether. They shared a large red and gold blanket and were nursing cups of hot chocolate retrieved from the kitchens about twenty minutes prior.

"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," Hermione said. "It's all about playing your cards right, relying on what you know about them. I just played all mine right."

Draco looked at her and was about to open his mouth, but Hermione cut him off.

"I know, I know." She said, sighing. "How very Slytherin of me."

Draco looked surprised, but didn't question her. "And Lily? How did you know?"

"Well," Hermione said as if it were obvious. "I don't suppose that Harry counts as evidence, does he?"

Draco mumbled something Hermione couldn't understand, and then went back to the subject of Severus Snape. "What are you trying to gain by befriending him?" he asked curiously.

"Gain?" Hermione asked. "I don't want to gain anything, I'm just trying to undo about twenty years worth of history. He seems like he had a very bad childhood, and he doesn't seem to have very many friends. Friends make a difference, and I think they could make a difference in him. I don't suppose you know whether he's a deatheater yet, do you?"

Draco grinned. "I know for a fact Snape got his mark after he left school, he told me before I got mine…" Draco rolled up his sleeve and showed Hermione the angry looking green tattoo on his pale forearm. Hermione reached out, almost mesmerized by it and brushed her fingers lightly against Draco's skin.

"Did it hurt?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"Worse than anything," Draco said honestly. "I cried for days. It was like they injected some sort of essence of dementor in me, I felt depressed for weeks. I honestly didn't think anything could be worse than living with this thing, look" he pointed to, if possible, and even paler line of skin by the skulls eye. "I tried to cut it out, but it grew back in one piece, I'm surprised that's all the more scarring there is. I'll have it for the rest of my life."

"You're very brave," Hermione said. "You're the one risking everything here. All I'm risking is a worthless life if this doesn't work. You're risking your money and power and name, and everything. I'm grateful you're still here Draco, I don't think I could have gotten this far without you, I could still be lying in that corridor, passed out from hunger."

Draco was a bit taken aback by Hermione's honesty once again. He hadn't really thought he was risking much. Of course there was the money and power and whatnot, but what good was it if he wasn't free? He could lie to anyone and say that the Dark Lord favored him and his family, but he couldn't lie to himself, he knew that he wasn't of any real value to Voldemort. No one was. It was only a matter of time before Voldemort achieved immortality, and then the world would end. Power corrupts, and Voldemort was soon to have more power than anyone could ever imagine.

"If this crazy plan actually works," Draco asked. "What do you think the future will be like?"

"Better," Hermione said simply. "Harry's parents will be alive, and Harry will probably not be famous, he wont have a scar. And he and Ron will be alive. My parents too. And maybe there won't be as much prejudice against muggles and muggle borns. And maybe our houses will get along. I wouldn't mind that."

Draco looked at Hermione, who was looking at him as though she was contemplating something very interesting.

"Do you think we'll be friends?" Draco asked her. "I mean, if Gryffindor and Slytherin got along?"

Hermione sat quiet for a moment, then said, "The house rivalries are centuries old, older than we can imagine. Do you think we could change that too?"

Draco gave her a real smile. "You already started it, didn't you?"

Hermione looked puzzled for a moment, before she realized. "Severus? Well, I suppose that's a start, huh?"

"Everything needs a start." Draco said. "You started out just changing a little history, maybe with a little work we can change the world."

"That's very inspirational," Hermione said with a smile. "I didn't know you had it in you."

"You don't know a lot about me." Draco said with a shrug. "Neither one of us are the same people we were in school, and yet we shouldn't even be done with school yet."

"I wish I knew what made you change your mind about everything." Hermione said. "Maybe it would put things back into a bit of perspective."

"I don't know," Draco said with a shrug. "Maybe I was tired of feeling like my shadow had turned into a dementor. I don't really see a bright future for anyone with the Dark Lord in charge, it doesn't matter who you are. That, and seeing Potter and Weasley die…Granger…Hermione…I know we were enemies, all of us…and that was school. I took the role of school bully seriously, and my father groomed me pretty well. I never actually wanted any of you to die. When they brought you into the manor you were still a force to be reckoned with even without your wand, but you started to break, and I watched you break. I realized somewhere along the line I didn't like to watch people break, and I didn't want to be the one responsible for it."

"Draco…" Hermione said quietly. The look she saw in Draco's eyes told her that words were unnecessary right now.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, both in their own worlds.

"I think we need to start upping it a notch." Hermione said. "If we're going for house unity, we have a lot of work to do."

"I think we can do it." Draco said with a smile. "You took down Snape's walls, Hermione, I think you can do anything."

(A/N) Love this Chapter! And it was fun to re-visit it again and add a little bit, like Draco's soliloquy on the couch there. There's one more prewritten chapter I need to go through then it will be all new stuff I write now. Don't expect anything right away after this next chapter….I'm getting married this Friday! As always, let me know what you think!


	4. The Walls Will Tumble

1**Hanging By a Moment**

**Chapter Four – The Walls Will Tumble**

"Those transfer students have started a revolution!"

At least, that's what was said in whispered voices about Hermione and Draco, those new Gryffindors who insisted on being friends with everyone despite of houses.

It was blasphemy, it was scandalous, it was….well, it just wasn't right. Everyone in Hogwarts knows that Gryffindors only got along with Hufflepuff and simply did not mix with Slytherins at any level, much less debate and study with them like Hermione was doing with Severus. It just was unheard of. And that Draco character, he was unlike any Malfoy anyone in the school had heard of. The older students knew of Lucius Malfoy, and they all agreed that they simply were not related.

It turned out that back in this time, house rivalry was actually _worse_ than in Draco and Hermione's time. Not only did Gryffindor and Slytherin not get along, but Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff fought, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw bickered, and no one got along with Slytherin. The war in future years must have brought the other three houses together, but Hermione and Draco had their work cut out for them now.

Draco found it amusing that Hermione had taken it upon herself to befriend every single Slytherin, regardless of age.

She often scouted out the library, looking for students who looked a little dazed and confused in her second home. It turns out that if you come bearing good grades, the average student will take a liking to you better than if you just come with a friendly face. Hermione giggled to herself from time to time, thinking about how a kind word and a book often gets more out of someone than a kind word and a wand.

Of course not everyone was willing to accept the smart Gryffindor without a fight, but the problem with Hermione was that she fit in everywhere. It drove each and every house absolutely crazy. House rivalries were so high it was hard to make a friend in another house, and most students took a slight comfort in that, it was comfortable and familiar, but Hermione granger came along and decided to throw their whole world out of proportion.

Soon students throughout the castle were figuring out what Severus Snape had already learned…You couldn't help but like that Hermione girl.

She eased her way into the hearts of the Hufflepuffs with a bright smile and a positive attitude. Her attitude was contagious and motivated the hard working house to strive more, she talked to all of them and listened more and for once let the pushover house push her a little, but she always had the control. Deep down they knew she still had it, but they were grateful that she acted like she didn't want it, or didn't mind sharing it. It was all slightly confusing.

The Slytherin house really had an unfair reputation. Slytherins were fair in the ways that they were taught. You had to earn the right to everything you have and constantly keep proving to your peers that you still deserved everything you worked for in the first place. Hermione made her way into their tight circles by out maneuvering the other seventh year Slytherins and proving that she could be just as cunning as them, and even more so. The thing about Slytherins is that once they accept you as their own, they stay and protect their own through whatever comes at them. Loyalty until the end.

Ravenclaw was actually the hardest house to win over. Their natural brilliance and cleverness keeps them from trusting anyone, much like the Slytherins, but you not only have to be clever, you have to get better grades. After a lot of trial and error, Hermione finally flung her progress report in their faces. It was that easy.

Hermione had just finished helping a first year Slytherin with some basic potion-making techniques. The small boy's name was Doug Elliot, a future deatheater who helps to kill Hannah Abbot's grandparents and aunt. The boy didn't look much like a killer though; he had dirty blonde hair and big blue eyes. He actually reminded her of Neville- a little clumsy but meaning to do well. Before they were done Hermione made sure to introduce him to a shy Hufflepuff that she had recently met. Her name was Lizzy Abbot.

"Age isn't important," she had told him when Draco brought it up. "They are all older than us anyway, even the first years."

Not everyone supported these friendships that they were pursuing, however, and the people most vehemently opposed my surprise you.

"I don't see what you're getting at," James Potter said somewhat angrily. "Snivelius is a greasy haired git, and should be treated as such as all times. If you let him forget that he is anything but, he might start getting ideas."

Hermione looked and James and narrowed her eyes. "The only git I see now is you James, how can you ever expect to live a happy life when you carry grudges that are way beyond expired? I don't mean to preach, but honestly, enough is enough, these house rivalries are ridiculous."

James just stared at Hermione, mouth agape, and Lily came up behind him.

"I have to agree with her, James." She said gently. "I've been telling you for years, you need to stop being a bully and let the things in the past die, there's a reason the sun rises everyday, it means new beginnings."

"But all the things he's called you!" James said fiercely. "I can't forgive him for that."  
"That's all he knows." Hermione said sadly. "Look at Draco, he used to treat me terribly, insults and name calling, he tormented me until very recently, and you like him, don't you? People change, you just have to accept that."

"How could you ask me to forget years of hatred for one another just because you told me to?" James demanded.

"There's a reason we have things called past and future." Hermione said with a bit of a twinkle in her eyes. "You really need to sort out which one goes where, and where to leave certain grudges. One day you might be very glad you made an unconventional friend. Think about it James, don't look towards the past unless you intend on heading in that direction"

Of course only Draco could appreciate the irony of Hermione's words, but it still made her feel good to be back to giving advice, being the know-it-all.

"Think about it," Hermione said. "There's no way we could ask you to become best friends with the bloke, but stop tormenting him would be a great way to start."

"Maybe if I knew why he was such a git I could forgive him…" James thought out loud. "I mean, if he had a good reason. But no one knows anything about Snape, he has just always been the greasy dark kid that didn't like anyone, and no one liked him. Life stays simple that way."

Hermione stood up. "Don't be lulled into a false sense of security. Life can seem simple at one time, but just wait; life never stays the same way for long. I'm going to go have a talk with him; he's fun to argue with."

Hermione left the Gryffindor common room to James just shaking his head. "She'll never get it." He said.

Draco grinned at him. "You'd be surprised at what exactly Hermione is capable of grasping."

Hermione had always thought of herself as a terrific listener. Whenever Ron and Harry had a problem their immediate response was to go to Hermione. When book smarts didn't cut it her instincts solved just about anything. People just naturally opened up to her, and Hermione had come to expect that.

So when Severus Snape didn't immediately start telling her his life story, she got a bit frustrated.

They were sitting in the library and had begun their discussion with a debate over the ethics of love potions. It turned out to be something that they both agreed on, and so they simply just argued other sides of the topic just for arguments sake.

Hermione had always been curious as to what had made her potions professor so dark and seemingly bitter at the world. She had always figured it was something about the first war with Voldemort that made something inside of Severus grow cold, but looking at him today Hermione could tell that it was something that started long before the young man joined the wrong side, and she wanted to find out what exactly it was.

"So where do you live when you're not at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked casually after ending the one-sided argument.

Severus looked up at her and shrugged. "In the family manor in Kent," he said. "Nothing spectacular."

"What about your family? Parents or whoever you live with?" Hermione asked, knowing she was starting to reach dangerous grounds.

"Not around much," Severus said. "Father has a lot of…business to deal with, and mother is usually either traveling or entertaining. I'm an only child, I spent most of my childhood reading. I preferred it that way, my father has a temper. Life around my home is usually of better quality when he is away."

Hermione was quiet for a moment. "He hit you?" she asked.

Severus's eyes snapped up to meet her gaze, hard at first before softening. "Sometimes he did."

Hermione finally felt as if all the torment Snape had given her in the past (future?) was justified. Not that she really thought it was right to take out anger on innocent people, or students, but it made her feel like she could finally see a part of this man that had alluded her for years.

Hermione didn't say anything after that, she didn't need to. When Severus broke his gaze with her she took his cold hand unto her warm one and held it. Sometimes words just can't justify an emotion.

"The walls are tumbling," Hermione said to Draco as they sat next to one another on their couch, it had become custom for them to stay up much later than the rest of the Gryffindors. Often they talked long into the night under a huge lion-embroidered blanket. Sometimes they sipped hot chocolate, sometimes coffee, and sometimes they drank nothing at all, simply gazing into the fire and lost in their own minds.

"What?" Draco asked. "What walls?"

"It's an expression." Hermione said with a smile. "I'm getting through to people. People are actually listening to me; purebloods are actually listening to me."

Draco smiled and looked at her. "Of course people are listening to you; you don't shut up until you have their full attention and support."

"Oh shut up," Hermione said with a laugh. "You reach people by scaring the wits out of them, at least I'm civil."

"Hey, whatever gets the job done," Draco said defensively. "There's nothing wrong with striking fear into the hearts of some future deatheaters while they're still young and impressionable."

"This is such a strange conversation," Hermione said. "This whole reality is strange."

"Well what did you expect?" Draco said with a bit of a smirk.

"I really didn't think it through," Hermione admitted. "I was locked up so long…you have all the time in the world to think when you're locked up and alone, I was alone so long I really didn't care what happened to me, I just wanted to do something, anything."

Draco lapsed into a guilty quiet. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Hermione nodded her head and edged closer to him. "You've already apologized to me a million times over…actions speak louder than words, remember?"

"I can never make up for everything I did, Hermione," Draco said in a tired voice. "You were lucky, actually, being locked up and kept away from everything…you didn't have to see everything I did, everything I saw and did myself. I would give anything to erase those memories from my mind, the sight of people dying and crying and in pain; there was so much pain, Hermione."

Hermione grabbed Draco's hand, "We'll get through this, and we'll change the world, we'll make it better. Maybe after that you can forget about the past, you'll be able to give the memories up."

Draco jerked a little with the sudden contact of skin on skin, and only relaxed slightly. He felt as though the air shifted somehow, making him feel slightly dizzy and reckless, almost like there were veela around. But there were no veela, only Hermione.

Hermione.

She was looking at him oddly now, as if just now catching a good look at him. She noticed the scar right above his eyebrow. His eyes were a grey-blue, almost unnatural actually. She shivered, whether from a draft or from something completely different it was hard to say.

And then they were kissing.

It was as quick and as sudden as she grabbed his hand and that moment flashed through both of their minds like lightning. Every contact they ever made seared through them. Robes on robes brushing in the hallways of Hogwarts, a sharp slap across the face at Buckbeak's beheading, him pushing Hermione into her cell and locking her up for a year, crying after said year was done, both hearts breaking and trying to mend back together. Perhaps they used bits of each others hearts, it was hard to say.

But there they were, kissing, and it fit, their broken hearts fit together like the final missing pieces to something much bigger than the two of them. The answer to the biggest tragedy in wizard history also happened to be the biggest cliché in any history…

They could kill the war before it started with love.

(A/N) Coooorrrnnnyyyyy  haha. I'm back from the honeymoon! We went to Mexico and words cannot describe how amazing it was. I have a little angst lined up for some upcoming chapters, I hope I can do them justice when I'm in such a great mood! Thanks for reading, and as always, I do adore feedback!


	5. Living in a Hurricane

**Hanging by a moment**

**Chapter Five – Living in a Hurricane**

"Well look at you two!"

Hermione groggily opened her eyes to the four grinning faces of the Marauders. It took her a minute to realize what the hell was so amusing until she realized how oddly comfortable she was. It was then she realized she had fallen asleep in the crook of Draco's arm.

Everything from the previous night seemed to hit her like a hurricane. Laughing, crying, and then finally kissing Draco, who was still sleeping soundly despite the sheer amusement that was radiating off the four boys. Hermione could swear she _heard_ the pure giddiness.

"Morning." Hermione said with a sleepy smile. "So you caught us and our sordid snuggling."

"Snuggle?" Draco was starting to come to. "Very comfy."

Hermione giggled, and with that Draco became more coherent. His eyes widened at the sight of her still curled up against his chest and looking up at him with her big brown eyes.

"Hermione?" He looked at her, as if unsure how she was feeling today about the previous night's activities.

Hermione considered the situation for a moment. How long had it been that she had fallen asleep in someone's arms? The last time she had such close contact she, Harry, and Ron where hiding out in tiny tent on the muggle countryside. They fell asleep wrapped around each other in a way only three people who loved each other very much could. That night they were attacked, and while Hermione was a brilliant witch, she was caught before she could get away. In the confusion Harry and Ron had left her behind, figuring she was already ahead of them. It was later on that day Draco Malfoy personally locked her up in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor.

Hermione was still staring at Draco intently, and apparently it was making the men in the room very uncomfortable, as she heard someone clear their throat.

"Erm, well." Sirius said as he grabbed Remus and James by the elbow. "It looks like you two have some unfinished business. We'll just be heading down to breakfast now. It's a Hogsmeade day, want to meet us later at the Three Broomsticks?"

"Sure." Hermione said, still not taking her eyes off Draco. "We'll see you later."

The Marauders left through the portrait hole and Hermione and Draco now had the common room to themselves.

"Hermione?" Draco asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"

Hermione didn't answer for a couple long moments. "That was the best night of sleep I've had in a very long time, Draco." She replied.

She saw the beginnings of a smirk pull at the corner of Draco's mouth, and she felt the need to shut him down just a little.

"I slept in the middle of Ron and Harry the last time I slept so well, later that day you threw me in a cell."

The shadow of a smirk disappeared.

"But there's a reason you're in my life now." Hermione continued. "I used to believe that there is no use crying when people leave your life. When Victor and I broke up, when my parents died, when Harry and Ron died…I always figured that there was a reason that someone didn't make it to my future. I honestly thought one of those major reasons was you, Draco. You and Voldemort and all those evil death eaters. I hung my blame and sorrow on each one of you, but I don't anymore, not after this. Through all this I learned why none of them fit into my future. Would you like to know what I've learned?"

Draco looked as though Hermione was slapping him over and over again and all he could do was nod silently.

"I've come to realize that none of them would have been any help in my future, which ironically is the past. It had to be you, Draco, to help me change the world. If Harry had defeated Voldemort back in our time that would have been wonderful, but we're stomping out the evil at its core. If it turned out the way I originally wanted it…Harry killing him, there would still be bitter death eaters running around. How many future death eaters have we swayed in our time here? I don't think I could have accomplished it all without you. You finally broke through those ridiculous concepts of muggleborns and pureboods, and that means everything, _everything_ to me, Draco. You have somehow fit into my future in a way no one could have."

Draco just looked wordlessly at the woman still laying in his arms. It was like she belong there. She _did_ belong there. It took the fall of the wizarding world to make him realize it. He didn't see her as a mudblood witch anymore; Hermione Granger was simply beyond words.

"Draco?" Hermione asked. She wondered if that was all too much for him to hear so suddenly.

"I just…" Draco trailed off. "I just wasn't expecting that." He finished.

Hermione smiled. "Remember when you asked if things would be much different between us if we get through this?"

"Yes." He replied.

"Well, I really, really hope it continues in this direction." Hermione lifted her head up and kissed him once more on the lips.

Hogsmeade village had not changed over the years. It looked exactly as it did in Hermione and Draco's time as it did right now as they made their way into the small town. Hand in hand they had been discussing the best way to go about dropping the bombshell they had planned for the Marauders and Lily.

"Why don't we just come out and tell them?" Draco suggested. "They like us, so it's not like they're going to curse us as soon as we tell them we're from the future."

"I think it's probably the best thing we can do." Hermione answered. "But we need to do it without Peter around, since we don't know where his loyalties lie right know."

"Have you thought about telling Snape as well?" Draco asked. "I know he is not a death eater yet, but I can't say for sure how deep he is in."

"I think Snape could potentially have some valuable information for us." Hermione replied. "Tell me, do you know if his father was a death eater? Snape mentioned he is a particularly nasty man, but he's away on business often."

"Snape's father doesn't really make it to the war." Draco said absentmindedly. "I don't know exactly what happened, but I think he was murdered."

"Murdered?" Hermione replied, surprised.

""Yes." Draco said in a clear voice. "I think he was the kind of man that made a lot of enemies, like my father. The only difference is that Lucius strikes fear and then offers some coins. Snape's father just tried the money approach. That doesn't really work when you get into the messier wizard circles."

"Poor Severus." Hermione sighed sadly. "Sometimes I just cannot wrap my mind around how much _death_ there is around us right now. Half the people we talk to on a daily basis end up being casualties of war, or related to casualties of war."

"That's how we can keep our perspective." Draco said with a weak smile. "We want to keep these people from dying, so that our time will not be filled with so many ghosts."

Hermione smiled back at him. "That's a good way to look at it." She said, "Now, as far as how we're going to break the news to the Marauders…Draco, have you ever practiced turning into an animagus?"

"Yes," Draco replied. "I turn into a falcon, you?"

"We all had to master it in the order," Hermione said with a hint of pride. "I turn into a cat, like McGonagall. Let me tell you, it's a much better experience to use animagus to turn into a cat than it is to use pollyjuice potion." Hermione grimaced at the memory.

"Pollyjuice isn't for animal transfiguration." Draco said with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't I know it," Hermione said with a laugh. "Anyway, the boys are all unregistered animagus, except for Remus of course. "I think we can use this to our advantage."

"Potter's dad was an animagus?" Draco asked with surprise. "I didn't know that. They're a little young now, aren't they?"

Hermione grinned. "Well, you know Remus is a werewolf, right? Well once Sirius, James, and…Peter found out they wanted to help him, keep him from being lonely and keep him on track during the full moon so they taught themselves. Remus told us that James and Sirius really were brilliant students, and they helped Peter to learn," Hermione said Peters name as though it were an expletive. "James turns into a stag, Sirius turns into a dog and Peter-"

"Turns into a rat," Draco finished. "How fitting."

"You knew?" Hermione asked.

"I've seen him change a few times," Draco said. "He could fit into small places, which made him a decent spy. Voldemort never really gave him anything important to do, however."

"Because he's a coward and a sneak," Hermione said angrily. "He cannot be trusted by anyone."

"Too right," Draco said absent mindedly. They had made it to the entrance of the Three Broomsticks and could see the four boys through the window, a few extra butterbeer glasses scattered over the table already.

"Hello!" Sirius was the first to spot Hermione and Draco as they entered the crowded pub. The four boys had flushed faces from the rounds of butterbeer in the warm environment. They were all smiling at one another when Hermione and Draco pulled up some seats to the creaky wooden table. Hermione noticed with a tug at her heart that it was the same table she and Ron hid Harry under in their third year. Ironically that was when they first started to make the connection between Harry's dad and his childhood friends. Hermione could practically feel the hole in her heart that her two best friends had left.

"So, everything alright?" Remus asked cautiously.

"Perfect," Hermione said in what she hoped was a happy tone.

"Looks like we have another budding Gryffindor romance blooming!" Sirius said with a bark of a laugh. He looked particularly gleeful as he elbowed Draco in the ribs. Draco tossed him a quick look of surprised contempt, which melted oddly into a smile on his pale face. Hermione smiled as she watched him.

James was next to thud Draco on the back. "Lily should be here soon as well," he said happily. "Then the whole gang will be together."

"Actually James," Peter said quietly from the corner, "I must get going. I have a study session with Bolstrom and Marcy."

"Spending a lot of time with them, eh Peter?" Sirius winked at him. "Sure there's something you are not telling us?"

Hermione and Draco exchanged glances. They heard the innuendo in Sirius's playful tone, but they both wondered if it wasn't something a little more sinister than a study date.

"Mind your own business, Sirius," Peter retorted. He let his chair scrape against the stone floor and left without another word.

"Has anyone else noticed he has been acting peculiar this term?" Remus said in his low, cautious voice once Peter was out the door. "I mean, he has always been quiet, a little odd, but he is becoming a bit…harsh."

"Maybe girl problems?" Sirius asked, his one track mind kicking in. "He has been spending a lot of time with Marcy, maybe Scott Bolstrom is battling for her affections?"

"Marcy has been steady with Justin McFall since fourth year, I don't think it is a romance issue," James said with unusual insight. "I think it is something bigger."

"Hello everyone," a pleasant voice came from the doorway. Lily had arrived. James immediately jumped up and found a chair for her and called over another butterbeer. Lily just smiled and kissed him. "What did I miss?"

"We're trying to figure out the cause of Peter's odd behavior lately." Remus replied. "We are not coming up with much."

Draco shot a glance at Hermione who gave a curt nod. "We think we may know what is going on with him," he said to the Marauders. "But you might think we are…a little crazy."

This caught their interest in a flash. "What do you think?" Sirius asked.

"We need to go somewhere private." Hermione said. "Can we go to the shrieking shack? I know Peter won't think to look for us there this time of the month."

Remus and James both simultaneously spit out their butterboor and Sirius and Lily stared at Hermione with their mouths open.

"What do you know?" Sirius demanded.

"I know a lot about you all," Hermione said mysteriously but kindly. "Now I think Draco and I let you know a little bit about ourselves."

**(A/N)** Chapter 5 and 6 started out as one chapter, but it got to be so much longer than the others I had to cut it in half. I hope it doesn't seem to awkward, but hey! Two chapters! Things are about to get interesting!


	6. Faith and Trust

**Hanging by a Moment**

**Chapter 6 – Faith and Trust**

The group made their way to the shrieking shack in no time. No one talked, all immersed in their own minds. Remus and Lily looked like they were going to be ill with worry and James and Sirius kept glancing at them and to each other, avoiding eye contact with Hermione and Draco who brought up the rear. Hermione and Draco had taken to holding hands, Hermione needing something to keep her from backing out of the most important part of their plans…getting the Marauders to believe them.

When they finally entered the small sitting room of the shack Hermione didn't have time to take in the broken furniture as she did in her third year. James and Sirius started firing questions at an impossible speed.

"Who are you?"

"Where are you from?"

"Who sent you?"

"What do you know about Remus?"

"How do you know anything?"

Hermione held up her hands in a vain attempt to settle them down and let her speak. Her nerves and patience finally got the best of her and she pulled out a wand and shouted; "Silencio!"

The two boys never saw it coming.

They glared angrily at her. Hermione sighed and said: "If I take the spell off of you, will you promise to let us explain? I promise, we want to help you more than you can possibly even imagine."

The boys facial expressions flickered from angry, to worried, to confused, but they both nodded.

Hermione ended the spell with a wave of her wand and sighed. "Draco and I are from the future. About 20 years in the future, give or take a few months."

They were not expecting this. Sirius, who was leaning against a beat-up recliner in the attempt to look aloof nearly fell over, while Remus and James opened their mouths with wide eyes to start firing more questions.

"Ah!" Hermione lifted her wand again to remind them she was not through explaining. They snapped their mouths shut and she continued.

"We used a time turner," Hermione continued. "And I…I am going to have a hard time explaining, so please, please be patient with me."

"I am the son of Lucius Malfoy." Draco took up where words failed Hermione. "And as you know, he is not old enough to have a 19 year old son. You see, in the next twenty years the wizard world is going to be torn apart by two wars. You all are going to play a major role in the first one, but…" Draco paused, unsure if he should go on. He glanced at Hermione who nodded encouragingly. "Only Remus is going to make it to the second war, and then he will die."

Hermione thought for a moment that Lily was going to be sick, but she simply slumped to the floor while James went over to her. Sirius was still staring at them with wide, disbelieving eyes. Remus looked like he wanted them to continue.

"James, Lily," Hermione started speaking again. "You are going to get married in another year here, right after the war starts. You're going to have a baby boy, and you're going to name him Harry."

"Harry is my father's name." James said numbly, almost in defeat. "I always wanted to name my son after him…how..how?" He looked as though he could not form the question.

"I know his name because he was one of my best friends. I desperately need to back up though. How much have you heard in the past year about a man named Lord Voldemort? He was previously known as Tom Riddle when he was at Hogwarts."

Lily spoke up first. We've heard rumors…whispers of someone practicing seriously dark magic and gaining followers, but they're just rumors!" She looked like she didn't really believe everything she was trying to say.

"People have been disappearing." Sirius said darkly. "The papers have been trying to hush it up, but you cannot ignore it."

It's the beginning of the war." Hermione said. "In another year an organization called the Order of the Phoenix will form to help put an end to Voldemort. You all will be members, of course," Hermione offered them a small grin. They looked hearted at their imposing bravery in times of struggle. "But Peter will not be joining you for long."

"Peter dies?" Sirius says with worry etched into his handsome face. "How can we stop it?"

"You'll wish that's what happens." Draco said in a flat tone. "He joins Lord Voldemort, causes the death of Lily and James, kills a bunch of muggles and Sirius gets locked up for over a decade in Azkaban because Peter frames him for all the murders."

You could have heard a pin drop in the shack. Again the four friends looked at Draco and Hermione as though they had sprouted another head right in front of their eyes.

"I don't believe it." Sirius said in a slightly angry tone. "Peter would never do that to us, any of us!"

"I can prove it," Hermione said gently. "You wonder how I know everything? Remus's secret? I know he's a werewolf, I know the three boys are unregistered animagus. I even know what you turn into…Stag, dog, and fittingly a rat."

"You could have seen us change at any time." Sirius said, the anger slowly leaving his voice and being replaced with desperation. He was determined to avoid the truth.

"I know about the Marauder's map," Hermione retorted to the look of skeptical eyes. "I even know how to activate it: 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good', and then to deactivate it is 'mischief managed'. I also know about the invisibility cloak that belongs to James and the secret passage you discovered to the village from the castle under the one eyed witch….honestly, do you need to continue?" Hermione finished and looked

around the room uncertainly.

"How do you know all this?" Lupin asked the question they all knew the answer to, but simply couldn't accept.

"Harry inherits the invisibility cloak," Hermione told them. "Remus, you come to teach us defense of the dark arts when we're all in our third year and you tell us how to work the map. Don't worry, a potion will be developed in a few years that will ease the effects of the full moon, you'll be in complete control of yourself in your wolf form. Surprisingly, Severus Snape is the potions teacher in our time and makes it for you while you stay at Hogwarts as our teacher."

Lupin looked completely amazed, and this softened the expression on his face considerably.

Lily pulled herself to her feet, holding onto James for support and spoke in a tentative voice; "What about our…our son? Harry? You tell us we're going to die, but our son lives. How?"

"This is where we find out about Peter's betrayal." Hermione said sadly. "But that's why we're here now; we want to change it all." Hermione took a moment to collect herself while Draco wrapped a comforting arm around her waist. Then she continued.

"After joining the Order of the Phoenix, James and Lily have a little boy named Harry. If you think the disappearances are bad now, they will only get much worse. Voldemort is trying to seek out all members of the Order, especially the stronger ones, and James and Lily are no exception. To hide, Dumbledore helps you go under The Fidelius Charm with Sirius as your secret keeper. You stay in hiding for a year while Harry grows into a one year old. Sirius even buys him his first toy broom. Right before Halloween it's decided that Sirius needs to go into hiding as well, and allows Peter to take over being secret keeper. No one knows about this exchange, obviously, because that's the point of the spell, the fewer who know the better. The night of Halloween Peter betrays you and leads Voldemort to your home. He kills James with the killing curse, and then goes to the nursery for Lily and Harry. Lily protects Harry and offers herself for his life, and Voldemort kills her. When he turns his wand and aims the curse at Harry…it bounces off of him and destroys Voldemort. Harry now has a-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sirius interjected Hermione's history lesson. No one survives a killing curse! There's no counter spell strong enough for it, and especially nothing a one year old can do!"

Hermione smiled again. "Harry didn't do anything to counter the spell, Sirius. Lily did."

"How could I?" Lily asked. "If he had already killed me?" She looked pale as a ghost but determined to scrutinize every detail.

"Love." Hermione said simply and looked up to Draco. "When you sacrifice yourself to save someone you love, there is no magic stronger. Harry was the only one in wizarding history to ever repel a killing curse, right through our time."

Lily had tears in her eyes. "I never would have thought," she paused and collected herself again, turning her whole body to James. "I can't wait to meet him," she said to him. "Our son, our Harry."

James looked a little taken aback but smiled and kissed her forehead. "Does that mean that when I propose you won't say no?"

Lily winked at him and let out a quiet laugh, the color starting to return to her face. "We'll see," she replied.

"I'm still not completely sold," Sirius said to Hermione and Draco. How can we honestly believe all of this? I don't think you're evil or anything, but I am going to need more information before I go and interrogate Peter. He has been our friend since we were all first years, I can't turn my back on him like that."

"And you won't, not for another 16 years," Hermione replied. "Maybe it would make more sense if I just told you how exactly we ended up here?"

They all nodded, so Hermione continued her story.

"After the Dark Lord fell, the wizarding world celebrated for years. Harry was named the Boy Who Lived and was sent to live with Lily's sister and her husband," Hermione noticed Lily's horrified look but didn't dwell on it. "He grew up there until he was eleven, and had no idea who he really was or how his parents died. His aunt and uncle told him they died in a car accident. When he was eleven, as we all did, Harry got a letter from Hogwarts, asking him to join the wizarding world. That's when I met him and his friend Ron Weasley, and we became the best of friends. Throughout our school years we ran into some horrifying things. Voldemort, whom everyone thought was dead, tried to come back in our first year but was too weak to command his own body. He possessed one of our teachers and Harry defeated him again at 11. When we were in our third year, as I mentioned, we discovered that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, where he had been sent after Peter framed him for all those muggle killings. Remus also came to teach us at Hogwarts. Sirius by this point knew Peter was still alive, he saw a picture of a rat that was the pet of my friend Ron. That's what motivated him to break out and find Peter, he wanted to avenge the death of his friends.

He and Remus reunited for a short while, but unfortunately it was the night of a full moon and Remus hadn't taken the potion that would render him harmless. Peter escaped. In our fourth year Voldemort succeeded in bringing himself back to full power, using the magic that ran in Harry's blood from Lily's protection. Again, however, Harry got away. Voldemort laid low until our 7th year, all the while Harry and Dumbledore tried to convince the world Voldemort was back. No one believed them except for the remaining members of the Order. Finally the world just could not ignore all the disappearing wizards and witches, and when we all came of age, we were initiated into the Order along with Harry."

Hermione stopped to catch her breath. Draco noticed she was visibly shaking, and he continued.

"Voldemorts followers are called the death eaters. My father was one, and when I turned 18, unlike Hermione and Harry, I joined them. I'm ashamed to admit it, but that was the path I felt was already chosen for me. I was prejudiced against muggles and muggleborns. I knew no other life.

The war went on for a little over a year. Catching and killing Harry Potter was the Dark Lord's number one priority, and he thought of little else. He killed all friends and family he could find, and we were still hunting the trio of Hermione, Ron, and Harry himself. It occurred to me throughout all this that Voldemort was little more than a mad man. My prejudices also conflicted with following him, as he was a half blood…a Malfoy does not serve a half blood is what I grew up to believe. My father, however, served Voldemort whole heartedly. He was in love with the fear and power and the sacrifice of dignity did not bother him as it did me. I began to think about all I had seen. The muggles killed did not bother me. The muggleborns we killed really didn't make me bat an eye, although it began to wear on me all the classmates I knew that perished. It was when Voldemort turned his wand against all the wizards and witches of pure blood that I became confused about our purpose here. I grew bored with the war and just wanted it to be over. I wanted to travel and see the world, and I couldn't do that while I was tied down in servitude. I always thought that Harry and his friends would win, that just seemed to me how the world works. We eventually discovered where Hermione, Ron, and Harry were hiding, but only managed to capture Hermione."

Draco looked at Hermione with uncertainty. Guilt was a foreign emotion to Draco Malfoy, but it burned in his chest with a vengeance. Hermione continued.

"After they captured me I was locked up in the Malfoy dungeons for what I assume was a little under a year. I lost track of time but I knew that my friends were still safe. I had already lost my parents to the muggle killings, they were the family I had left. I stayed in that cell without incident until the day I felt them die." A tear spilled down her cheek and Hermione looked at Draco to continue.

"I saw Harry and Ron, along with most of the remaining order die on the grounds outside Hogwarts. Because the killing curse didn't seem to work on Harry when it was Voldemort, the snake of a man snuck up on Harry and stabbed him to death," Draco paused and watched the tears in Hermione's eyes. "I don't know why, because I am not the poster child for bravery and duty, but I felt that Harry was not supposed to die like that. Something in me snapped. I went to Hermione, who was a mess in her cell. She just kept saying they were dead and I told her I knew, but maybe if we could take back some time and warn Harry, maybe he would be better prepared. Well, Hermione, being the most brilliant witch in our class, was already three steps ahead of me." Draco smiled at Hermione and let her finish the story.

"When Draco gave me the opportunity to use the time turner, I really didn't think. I was grieving, I had just lost everyone I loved and the world simply wasn't right anymore. I smashed the time turner and shouted the year I wanted. We landed on the outskirts of town and you stumbled across us a few hours later," She gestured to the boys in the room. "I know it's hard to believe, sometimes I wake up and forget everything that has happened. I think I'm back in my own time and my two best friends are in the boys dorms snoring away. Then it always hits me and sucks me under for a couple minutes. I do all I can to keep from screaming at night when the nightmares come back, but something brought Draco to me with that time turner. That's why we've been working so hard trying to alleviate the house rivalries. We've already made friends out of enemies and so much more. We want to rewrite history."

Hermione bowed her head and indicated she was done. Draco squeezed her hand and waited for someone else to start talking.

"So," it was Remus who first spoke. "You're saying that Peter is not disappearing to study…or snog. He's meeting with followers of Voldemort?"

"That's exactly what we think." Draco replied. Marcy Veddia and Scott Bolstrom are death eaters in our time. I would know," Draco pulled the sleeve of his shirt up and revealed the stunning and grotesque tattoo that still sent shivers down Hermione's spine. Draco continued, "Is Peter 18 yet?"

James nodded, "Peter turned 18 in August."

Draco looked thoughtful. "And he started acting funny at the beginning of term? Did he spend a lot of time with those people?"

"Come to think of it," Lily's eyes widened in recognition. "He spent a lot of time with them…and others! Even Severus…but then Hermione and Draco came…oh my lord, James…they're right!" Scott and Marcy are the only ones Peter said didn't like Hermione and Draco…"

Hermione nodded. "We talked to everyone we knew would end up death eaters.

I'd imagine that little study group Peter has been going to are current death eaters, the ones over eighteen, who are recruiting the students under eighteen who will become one when they come of age."

This statement made everyone look very uncomfortable, but Lily nodded in agreement.

"What's that picture on your arm?" James asked Draco.

"That's how you can tell if someone is a full fledged death eater. Voldemort designed this to link himself with his followers."

"And we're to trust you, as a death eater?" Serious asked, not unkindly.

Draco bowed his head. "I ask that you do. I truly am not a Gryffindor, I was sorted as a Slytherin, and so my daring and chivalry are overshadowed by self preservation and cunning…but I do not want to see the world end as it has in our time. It may be purely selfish, but I have no intention of being a servant to a mad man."

Sirius seemed to accept Draco's answer, possibly due to the absolute blunt statement. "What are we to do about Peter then?" Sirius asked. "Should we see if he has a mark?"

"That would be the quickest way to see how far in he is," Hermione answered. "The hard question for you all is…what are you going to do about it, armed with the information we have given you?"

Everyone shifted very uncomfortably at the thought. Peter had not done anything to deserve retribution…yet. But to know that it was coming, why sit like sitting ducks?

"I think," Lily said slowly. "That we do nothing now. As far as Peter is concerned, we should not act any differently. You say we have a few years, that's wonderful, perhaps we may be able to end things before they get out of hand. Would you give us a year, at least?"

Hermione nodded, but concern showed on her face. "We have a year before things really start getting bad. I think the best course of action now would actually be to go see Professor Dumbledore and organize the Order of the Phoenix early. We need to get the people we've made our friends into it, and crush Voldemort with our numbers before he becomes too strong. He is already going to be hurting with the lack of supporters he had the first time around."

"We can do this!' Sirius suddenly said with resolution written all over his face. "We can take him down!"

"This is where things are going to get fuzzy." Hermione reminded everyone. "We have the advantage as of right now because we have not really changed any history. Where we go from here…well, Draco and I don't know, because this is where history is going to be seriously rewritten.

"Do you really feel it's wise, messing with the chain of events like this?" Lily asked Hermione. "Things where really that bad?"

"Lily," Hermione looked at the other girl with sad eyes. "Lily, you and James are not going to make it to see your son reach his second birthday, to say his first sentence, ride a broom at a quidditch match. How much worse can it get?"

Lily was thoughtful for a minute. "I don't even know him yet and that breaks my heart. I'm just worried about others."

"The halls of Hogwarts are filled with hundreds of ghosts," Hermione said. "Hundreds of ghosts that don't even know it yet, ghosts that won't have a chance to fall in love and have children. I had nothing left to lose in my life, so this is the choice for me."

Lily nodded and squared her shoulders. "We should speak with Dumbledore then, if that is your suggestion. What makes you think he'll believe us?"

"I think Dumbledore knows everything," Hermione said with a smile. "The man didn't even bat an eye when two students showed up and placed themselves in Gryffindor, it's almost like he was expecting us."

"Maybe he can see the future," Sirius suggested. "Maybe he knew about you two all along."

Draco shrugged. "I don't know if he knew about me. I was an evil little git."

Hermione grinned, "No truer words have ever been spoken."

"Alright then," Sirius started for the door to lead the others out. "I suppose we should speak with Professor Dumbledore before we speak with Peter again. Let's change some history!

(A/N) That. Was. Hard!! I apologize if the Marauders accepting Hermione and Draco's story isn't incredibly believable. I am hoping it has the whole so-shocking-it's-gotta-be-true thing going on. I hope that because this is the wizard world and time turners do exist that it's not too unbelievable for the 70's kids. I hope I answered/will answer the question as to why Dumbledore just accepted them. Next chapter we get to find out!


	7. Of Mice and Men

**Hanging by a Moment**

**Chapter 7 – Of Mice and Men**

Draco was fairly sure he had never in his life felt as terrified as he felt walking towards the statue of the stone gargoyle. Hermione indicated that this was the way to see the headmaster, and Draco wondered for a fleeting moment what Hermione had done to earn a trip to see Dumbledore in their time. Draco was prepared for the difference in appearance he was in for- he had seen the headmaster at meals, but he was unsure if Dumbledore would believe them or if this whole trip was for naught. Draco chuckled darkly to himself. Maybe they would be in St. Mugo's before the end of the night.

Hermione, on the other hand, felt more hope than she had in years. She was excited to finally sit and talk face to face with her would-be mentor, and had full faith that he, like so many times before, would have the answers she desperately searched for. The people that surrounded her, the marauders and her most surprising ally, Draco, made her feel the Gryffindor bravery she thought was lost forever.

The small group stopped behind Hermione at the statue of the intimidating gargoyle. The gargoyle stared blankly at them while Hermione panicked for a moment.

"Shoot!" she mumbled to herself. "Password, how could I forget?"

"We can wait for him here?" James suggested.

"In our time, Dumbledore always made his passwords different types of candy," Hermione replied.

"Chocolate frog?" Sirius said hopefully to the statue. Nothing.

"Peppermint humbug?" Remus tried. Again, no luck.

"Didn't they just introduce a new candy?" Lily said uncertainly. "Acid pops?"

The group jumped in unison when the gargoyle leapt to the side and revealed the staircase he was guarding.

"Yesss!" Sirius pumped his fist in the air. Remus and James both had to grab onto the back of his shirt in order to keep him from running ahead of Hermione and Draco, who they thought should go in first.

"I hate arriving uninvited," Hermione said softly

"It's like you said," Draco replied. "There is a very good chance Dumbledore is expecting us."

The group was not disappointed. When Hermione made it into the vast study that had been home to every Hogwarts headmaster since the founders, she was greeted by six very comfortable looking chairs, a cart full of tea and snacks, and the Hogwarts head master, his beard not quite as long as Hermione was used to, but still with a familiar and comforting twinkle in his eyes.

Wordlessly Dumbledore rose from his chair and motioned to the chairs lined up in a row in front of his desk. The group each took a seat, Draco and Hermione right in the middle.

"Please, help yourselves," Dumbledore finally spoke and motioned again to the tea and assorted sandwiches and cakes. The students filled their plates and cups and settled into the chairs, looking expectantly at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore took a sip of his tea and sat back down behind the large wooden desk. He looked at the students over his half-moon spectacles, and Hermione took this as an invitation to begin.

"You know, don't you?' Hermione asked cautiously. She didn't mean for it to sound like an accusation.

Dumbledore chuckled. "About three years ago, a good friend of mine came to me. Cassandra told me that Hogwarts would be visited by two familiar strangers and that they would help the wizarding world find the peace it most desperately needs. Needless to say, when the two of you popped into Hogwarts I knew she had been correct."

"Cassandra?" Hermione's forehead wrinkled a little in concentration, trying to remember the name. "Cassandra Trelawney?"

Dumbledore nodded. "The very same. Good job, Miss Granger."

Hermione blushed and bowed her head. "But she didn't tell you specifics?" she asked.

"She told me to listen to everything you had to say, even though my initial instincts will be to ask you to keep quiet." Dumbledore said bluntly.

Hermione gulped and looked at Draco, who nodded in encouragement.

"Alright then, Professor." Hermione began. "You know our names. We are from the future."

Hermione hated saying it so dramatically. In response Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up, but he didn't say a word.

Draco continued. "Right now Tom Riddle, who will be known to everyone in the wizarding world as Lord Voldemort is currently recruiting followers, deatheaters they're called, and he has students who are of age recruiting inside Hogwarts.

Dumbledore never visibly gave a reaction, but Hermione noticed a flash of comprehension flicker in his eyes.

"We lose," Hermione said with some finality. "The world falls to Voldemort, and we are here to change it."

Dumbledore was very still for a few moments and Hermione wrangled her hands nervously in her chair. The Marauders and Lily kept looking back and forth between the headmaster and Hermione and Draco, waiting for someone to move or speak.

"I can see why Cassandra told me not to immediately quiet you," Dumbledore said softly. All six students leaned in, hanging on every word. "It is my first instinct to ask you, Hermione, not to speak another word of this to anyone,"

Hermione drew a sharp breath and Draco grabbed her hand.

"However," Dumbledore continued, "My second instinct is to believe that you are not here to change history for personal gain, along with Mr. Malfoy here it appears you both have been through tremendous trials. Did you come to this decision lightly?"

Hermione gulped. "Yes…and no," she slowly began. "I do want you to know, sir, that I may have jumped into this adventure on a spur of the moment opportunity, but there is absolutely no action I could take from here on out that could possibly change the future for a less desirable one we are all in for."

Dumbledore waited for Hermione to continue, and for the second time this evening she and Draco told their story, right up until they revealed themselves to the Marauders.

Dumbledore was still long after Hermione and Draco finished their tale, and the six students again sat holding their breath, waiting uncertainly to what Dumbledore had to say.

Dumbledore took another small sip of tea, as if to stall for a couple more moments to think. Finally Fawkes, who had been listening silently from his perch, gracefully glided down to land on Dumbledore's shoulder. It seemed that that was the only sign Dumbledore needed.

"I think it is time we begin to form our own order, you say it is to be called The Order of the Phoenix?" he asked and stroked the top of Fawke's head.

Hermione let out the breath she had been holding in a whooshing sound. "Yes sir," she replied. "And these members, are they to know about us?"

Dumbledore studied the young woman. She was perfectly presentable, but he understood the death that shown behind her brown eyes. Draco shared that feature with her.

"Yes, Miss Granger," he said. "But I think we should be careful about whom we share this situation with specifically. Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, I trust you understand my degree of hesitation in all of this. Changing the course of history is a dangerous undertaking, one day from here on out one of you might vanish entirely, we having changed the circumstances of your birth."

Draco gave a half-hearted grin. "I'm willing to risk it," he said sincerely. "The circumstances of my birth are shady at best. In any case, I don't want to live in a world run by a mad man."

"That is very brave of you, what about you, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore looked at her.

"I think I have a slightly better chance of sticking around," Hermione said with a smile. "My parents are muggles, and certainly not as close to this wizard war as Draco's parents are. I can easily accept the risk."

Dumbledore looked to the Marauders and Lily, who all had been paying rapt attention to the exchange. "How do you feel, knowing that this is what the future holds for you and your children?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well," Sirius was the first to speak. "It appears that James and Lily are the only ones who even get around to having a child, and I want Harry to be born into a world where he doesn't have to be famous for surviving murder. I say we fight, strike while the iron is hot, and let the chips fall where they may."

The rest nodded their heads in agreement, Hermione noticed that Lily and James were also holding hands.

"Then I will contact a few of my closest friends right away, and set up a meeting for this evening. Hermione, would you be so kind as to give me a list of any names you might remember from the original order? I understand a few may still be too young to be involved, but I take comfort that we should still have a strong number."

Hermione nodded eagerly and took the quill and parchment from Dumbledore and began scribbling down all the names she could think of. She then handed the list back to the headmaster.

"Ah, I'm glad to see Minerva's name at the top," Dumbledore smiled to himself. "I take great comfort in this. And Moody, of course he would be where the action is. Oh, and the newly married young Weasleys, how wonderful!"

Hermione was a bit unsure of how to handle Dumbledore's excitement as he mentioned a few names off the list. She fought very hard with herself to tell him exactly which ones would make it to the second formation of the order.

"This will be splendid," Dumbledore lowered the list, and with a wave his wand the ink disappeared. He looked up at the questioning eyes. "I do not need to tell you that this is now your deepest, darkest secret. I cannot impress upon you enough how dire the situation is about to become. The longer we can keep Tom from finding out there is a movement against him the greater our chance to win becomes. You all must think long and hard about each and every one of your peers and decide which ones can be trusted. It is good to know there are a few we do not have to question, but be sure in your decisions."

"Sir?" James spoke up after Dumbledore was quiet again. "What are we to do about Peter? From what we know now, he is in deeper than we would like. We know he means to betray us eventually, how can we be around him?"

"I think Mr. Pettigrew could work as a very unconventional ally," Dumbledore replied, the twinkle back in his eye. "We are going to need someone on our side to be able to ferret information from what Tom Riddle is planning,"

"I'll do it," Sirius immediately spoke up. "It is no secret my family is knee-deep in the dark arts, it would not be hard to convince anyone I've taken an interest in the family past time.

Everyone looked worriedly at Sirius, but he had a look of resolution and purpose on his face, he could not be denied the job he assigned to himself.

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Thank you, Mr. Black, but please be careful. We do not want to tip Peter off in any way."

Sirius nodded and James spoke up. "What do we do now?" he asked.

Dumbledore frowned a bit. "We need to get everyone together in the quickest and smoothest manner. I would suggest owl t reach everyone, but a flurry of owls from my study all at once you leave could tip off the people working on the inside. I'm afraid I may need to visit everyone in person. Miss Granger, Malfoy, can you make the other professors in the school aware?"

Hermione nodded. "And where shall we meet?" She asked.

Dumbledore smiled, "Don't you already know?" he said with the twinkle beginning to return in his eye.

Hermione laughed a little. "Sir, I was not even alive in this year. I know the basics of the first Order, but the specifics from the early meetings? I'm a bit lost there!"

Dumbledore laughed out loud. "Touché Miss Granger. Well, I would say that the best place to meet would be outside the castle walls. Also, I have a feeling the Ministry of Magic would not be to keen about our plans if they discovered us. Let me inquire with the Weasleys and beg permission to use their home for our first get together."

Draco's hand instinctively shot towards Hermione's and grabbed a hold of her. Draco could see the tears forming in Hermione's stubborn eyes and he knew she would not let them fall, at least not here.

"Good idea, professor." Hermione choked out.

"We'll go speak with Professor McGonagall right away," Draco said quickly and coaxed Hermione out the door. Dumbledore simply nodded to him and regretted not knowing what demons these two children had already faced.

The Marauders and Lily excused themselves quickly after, Sirius was already discussing with James the best way to get himself involved with whatever it was Peter was doing, and Dumbledore heard the stone gargoyle slide to a close at the bottom of the steps.

Dumbledore found himself wondering what sort of future they came to him from. They looked at him with the most peculiar expression, like they where looking at a ghost. The old headmaster knew from the looks on their faces that his time had most likely been up in the time they came from, but that did not bother him. It worried him that another round of war would truly destroy this young couple.

Draco followed Hermione towards the Owlry. He knew that she was thinking of her lost friends again, the sudden mention of Ron's parents had struck a cord with her she was not expecting.

Draco grabbed her arm and forced her to stand still. "Hermione, stop." He said quietly.

Hermione whirled around to face him. Draco noticed then the tears that were streaming down her face. "What? What do you want?" she asked angrily.

"Just to talk," Draco said. "We haven't had any time alone since speaking with James and them."

Hermione just glared at him. "What the hell is there to talk about? This is exactly what we wanted!"

"But neither of us realized the emotional toll it would take on you, specifically," Draco replied quietly. "Did you ever stop to think about what it will be like to see all the people you witnessed die as barely more than children?"

"I don't think anything can hurt me anymore," Hermione said sadly.

"Don't say that," Draco replied, almost angrily. "Hermione, if you do not let yourself feel, you lose the most important part of you, your humanity."

"There's no room for humanity in war," Hermione recited, as if she had reminded herself of this time and time again.

"There's no room for humanity in a deatheater's war," Draco shot back. "But that is not who you are, Hermione, you're one of the good ones."

"So are you," Hermione replied. "I'm not the only one who has been changed,"

Draco smiled and pulled her close. "You have no idea how much you have influenced that change," he said into her hair. "You saved me,"

"You saved me," Hermione said to him. "None of this would have been possible without you,"

Draco stood back and offered Hermione his hand. "Lets go speak with McGonagall, shall we?"

Hermione smiled and took his hand. "Ready to tell our story for the third time again?" she asked.

"I am fairly certain that this will not be the last time we will have to convince people today, we still have a full meeting to speak at this evening." Draco said.

Hermione sighed. "I guess we have out work cut out for us then, don't we?"

Draco simply smiled he and Hermione made their way to the office of the transfiguration professor.


	8. Another Auld Lang Syne

**Hanging by a Moment**

**Chapter Eight – Another Auld Lang Syne**

"…and that's it, basically. Dumbledore is contacting people right now through the floo channel. He did not think owl could be trusted." Hermione finished speaking and she and Draco looked to Professor Minerva McGonagall, transfiguration professor at Hogwarts.

Professor McGonagall looked over her sharp nose to the young students sitting before her, just like they do in class. Minerva was just a year away from being Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, once Professor Maurice Mundragon retired. She was a brilliant witch and took pride in her ability to be fair and level-headed. What these students were telling her, however, was seriously shaking the core of her belief that time should not be trifled with, and she resisted the urge to send them away.

"Professor?" The young Malfoy boy asked, almost tentatively.

Minerva looked Draco over. She had just watched as the man whom Draco claimed to be his father graduate a little over a year ago. Truth be told, Draco looked strikingly like Lucius, right down to the silvery blonde hair and silver-blue eyes. It was true, it was absolutely impossible for Lucius to have fathered a child of nineteen now. It unnerved Minerva far more than she cared to admit.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger," Minerva began carefully. "What you are telling me is that in twenty years or so the world is going to fall to a dark wizard, and the only way to save it is to cheat time itself?"

Hermione winced but Draco nodded, "That is exactly what we are telling you, Professor," he replied. "Everything and everyone falls to Lord Voldemort, known now as Tom Riddle. Hogwarts falls, the Ministry, nearly everyone in this castle right now falls into darkness or into death because of him."

"And you believe you can change this course?" Minerva said harshly.

This time Hermione spoke up. "Professor, if this does not change the course of history then we are all doomed. Voldemort wipes out all the muggles and muggleborns in the entire world. The entire world," Hermione added for emphasis. "You and I both know that purebloods cannot continue to procreate with one another, the human race will die out completely. It is beyond the scope of a wizarding war, it is a world war, a human war, in every single sense of the word."

Minerva looked at Hermione, quiet Hermione, in surprise. "Miss Granger," she said, "Please tell me, is there no other way to do this?"

Hermione and Draco both shook their heads. "Professor, you grant me access to a time turner in my third year so I can take more classes. I know from first hand experience how dangerous it can be to tamper with time, I would not come to this conclusion unless there was simply nothing left to lose. We are all damned regardless."

This time Draco looked at Hermione in surprise. He never thought her to be one who would consider herself, or anyone for that matter, damned.

"I suppose I must believe you then," Minerva stood and Hermione and Draco followed suit. "If Albus says we meet, then I will be there. I have to admit, I did wonder what two of my Gryffindors were doing trying to befriend every student in Hogwarts…or where they came from for that matter."

Hermione managed a weak smile. "Now you know," she said.

Snow was falling on the Hogwarts ground and starting to pile up, making the walk from the castle to Hogsmeade, where Hermione and Draco would catch the knightbus to the Weasley's, a hard journey indeed.

Hermione would never admit it, but she was terrified of seeing her best friend's parents, or would be parents. The Weasleys were always so kind to her and Harry, practically adopting them into their already-large broad. She knew that they had just had their first child, Bill, and that it would not be long before they realized that Charlie was on the way. Hermione was looking forward to seeing baby Bill, a symbol of innocence and hope in a world thrown into disorder.

Draco knew that something was weighing heavily on Hermione's mind. One thing Draco had a hard time wrapping his mind around was the sense of family Hermione found in her friends. Draco was always under the impression that this world would only let you succeed if you worked hard for it and stomped on other people if the need called. Hermione's dedication to her lost friends was mind boggling to him, but for Draco, his increasing dedication to Hermione was something else entirely.

Hermione and Draco entered the Three Broomsticks quietly and sat and waited for their other companions to join them. The Marauders had been busily preparing Sirius on the best way to enter into this circle of deatheater youth, and Hermione was on edge as to how well that had gone.

Draco ordered up a firewhiskey, under Hermione's disapproving gaze. She ordered herself a butterbeer and sipped it quietly.

"Ready for this?" Draco broke the silence.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Hermione replied. "I had no idea everything would progress so quickly now. It feels like everything has changed."

"Everything has changed _again_," Draco corrected. "Of course your head is spinning, you have just rewritten history twice in the past few months, now we are really going to get in deep. Quite literally, history as we know it is gone."

Hermione remained quiet for a few more moments. "How are you still here, Draco?" she asked. "You are sitting here in front of me clear as day but I still have problems believing it. You are coming with me to meet Ron's parents, before Ron even gets to meet them! And you are so calm. Like you know what you are doing."

"Hermione," Draco said with a half smirk. "If I knew what I was doing, I would be doing it. I have no idea what to expect, I am just along for what promises to be a very interesting ride. That, and I hope to come face to face with Voldemort before he gets his hands on my father…"

"Your father?" Hermione picked up on Draco's quiet demeanor, and was confused about what it meant.

"My father was a Voldemort supporter from the beginning," Draco said angrily. "How else would one be in his inner circle? They went to Hogwarts together, obviously Riddle is a few years older than my father, but that hardly makes a difference when you consider the substantial accounts the Malfoys possess at Gringotts. Money can buy anything, Hermione, including power. Honestly, I just hope we can change my father along with the rest of the world. He's a hard man, but he's the worst to my mum. Maybe without the influence of Voldemort she will have a happy life."

"You don't sound like you are including yourself in the happiness," Hermione observed.

"I'm letting the chips fall where they may," Draco replied, the ghost of a grin returning. "My mother is a kind woman; she doesn't deserve the hand she was dealt,"

Hermione didn't get the opportunity to question Draco further, just the door to the Three Broosmsticks blew open and the cold air hit her. James, Remus, Sirius, and Lily, all bundled up under their matching Gryffindor scarves, shuffled in. Their eyes were overfilling with excitement Hermione observed while Draco downed the last of his firewhiskey and stood up. James looked at his speculatively and Draco explained rather sheepishly. "I'm heading into a den of lions," he said. "I need some liquid courage for this feat,"

Hermione and the others laughed, and it wasn't long before Draco joined in. The group exited the Three Broomsticks and Sirius stuck out his wand for the knightbus.

Hermione jumped slightly as the knightbus appeared in the middle of the street, she had barely seen it coming. The six of then filed into the bus and found an inconspicuous corner on the upper level. They were the only ones around.

"It will take about half and hour to reach our destination," Remus said. "So we need to fill you in on our, well, rather Sirius's developments for the day."

Sirius stuck his chest out proudly and began. "It was really as easy as I thought it might be, unfortunately there's a family matter that made it sadly too easy," Sirius caught Hermione's curious stare and explained, "My older brother, Regulus, well, he has already joined and is apparently a very active member. He has been in touch with the students here and has been telling them since the beginning of term it was only a matter of time before I joined them. Peter was actually trying for some time to get me alone without James or Remus around to feel me out, so to speak. I made it easy for him today,"

Draco looked saddened for a moment, Sirius caught it.

"What?" Sirius asked Draco.

"Nothing," Draco said too quickly.

"Draco…" Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"Your brother doesn't make it to see any real war," Draco said quietly, his eyes to the floor.

Sirius was silent. "He dies?" Sirius couldn't help ask.

"He does," Draco confirmed. "He actually…well, he tries to leave Voldemort. Once you sign up for the life of a deatheater, that is just it, you are in for life."

Sirius looked troubled for a moment, but the a look of resolution flashed across his face. "Well, it looks like I have two jobs to do then," he said.

"Two?" James asked.

Sirius attempted a small grin. "I have to become someone close enough to the inner circle to find out the moves they'll make, and I also need to get close enough to my brother to get him to trust me too. I can change his future as well!"

Hermione felt uplifted at Sirius's statement, but James was frowning.

"You hate your brother," James pointed out.

"I can't hate him, James," Sirius responded. "It's true, we never saw eye to eye, but he's my brother, he's my blood. If there's a chance that his future can be changed too, then I have to try."

James nodded, his eyes still full of concern for his friend. Draco cleared his throat subtly.

Sirius continued his story. "It was brilliant!" He said excitedly. "James and Remus and I made a big show of fighting, over you two, actually," he grinned and winked in Hermione's direction. "I picked a fight with James, saying I didn't trust the two of you, the muggleborn witch and pureblood who were on a mission to turn over all the order of Hogwarts, I said that I didn't like it, and my pureblood roots were more important to me than the agenda you guys were pushing. We made sure that Peter was in the room, just like any other night. A couple other Gryffindors are not too fond of me anymore, but Peter ate it up. James and Remus made a big show of storming out of the common room with Lily following them and Peter came to me the second the portrait closed. It couldn't have gone any better."

"What did Peter say to you?" Hermione asked.

"He loved the fight," Sirius said smugly. "He asked me if I was serious about everything I said. I pretended to still be fired up, I told him I realized with the arrival of Draco and Hermione that my family values were more correct than I had had realized. He ate it up!"

Hermione gave a weak smile. "And what about the meetings?" she asked.

"Tomorrow," Sirius said smugly. "Peter just can't wait to tell everyone he recruited another Black into the fold."

Remus and James smiled grimly. Lily looked worried and Hermione and Draco exchanged nervous glances.

"Can I see the mark again, Draco?" Sirius asked curiously. "I wasn't able to get a look at Peter's, and I want to make sure I know exactly what it looks like."

Draco flinched a little. "I promise, it's not something you can mistake." He lifted back the sleeve of his Hogwarts robe and sweater beneath it and displayed it for the rest to see.

Hermione shuddered involuntarily when her eyes met the horrifying tattoo. Draco flinched at her reaction, but left the mark exposed against his pale skin for Sirius to examine.

"Am I going to get one?" Sirius asked.

"I hope not, for your sake," Draco replied. "Nothing hurts more than having this seared into your skin."

Sirius gulped, but looked resolved. "But if I do my job well, that's where I'm headed?"

Draco nodded, and everyone was silent for the rest of the ride.


	9. Forever Young

Hermione thought she would be sick the entire ride in the knight bus. Sirius and James looked excited about the opportunity to fight against this unseen evil, while Lily and Remus looked anxious. Hermione wondered how much more her mental state could possibly handle. She was a Gryffindor, she was brave, and until now she refused to let herself think about her lost, dead friends.

Until the end. They promised each other they would face Voldemort and they would fight the Deatheaters until the end. The end came alright, and Hermione found herself alone.

But she wasn't. She wasn't alone. She found an ally in the most unexpected place. She did what she promised she would never do back in her third year; she tampered with time. She tampered with time to the point that history will never be the same. No matter what she did from here on out, she had irrevocably changed the course of events, and by her side was not Ron nor Harry, it was Draco Malfoy.

She looked at Draco now. His side profile was beautiful in the dying light inside the knight bus. Hermione was the cleverest witch in her year, but she still could not understand the boy, man, that traumatized her in her new world, the one she enjoyed slapping in her third year, and the one that jeered at her as the bars slammed over her freedom when she was caught.

Draco shifted and caught Hermione's intent gaze. "Things will be okay," he said, somewhat uncomfortably.

Hermione sighed. "Will it?" She asked. "Can you promise that?"

"I never make a promise I cannot keep," Draco replied confidently. "I won't promise you everything will turn out the way you want it to, but considering what the alternative is, I will say that whatever happens now will be okay. I'm aiming for great, mind you, but I will be satisfied with okay."

Hermione managed a weak smile. Draco could joke. A nagging voice at the back of her mind still made her wonder if this was some huge stunt the deatheaters had planned to torture her. She wouldn't put it past the lot of them, but maybe, just maybe...Hermione trusted Draco, and she had to see this out until the end.

Hermione felt the sudden jerk and knew her Knightbus ride had come to an end. She looked at Draco, who nodded to her only once and she knew that this is where it stopped being a dream. She was screwing with the lives of those she knew best, but she knew this was the only way.

The bus deposited the lot of them at the end of a shabby walkway that led up to a shabbier house. The Burrow was smaller than Hermione remembered. Even from a distance she could tell that it would take the addition of many children before it would achieve the crooked glory Hermione was familiar with. She swallowed back an ill-concealed sob and resolutely started putting one foot in front of the other. Draco didn't say a word, nor did he touch her. This was her battle alone, he knew, and the others followed her just as silently.

The walk took all of five minutes and Hermione stopped to admire the small garden off the kitchen door that was not currently overrun with gnomes. She smiled in spite of herself and lifted her hand to the door.

Before she could knock, however, the door opened and behind it stood Dumbledore. He smiled down and silently beckoned them inside.

Hermione allowed herself a moment to be enveloped by the homey smell of the warm kitchen and closed her eyes. She could almost hear the twins cracking jokes at Ron's expense, while Harry and Ginny whispered to one another when they thought her brothers were not looking. They always were, but that's beside the point.

The sound of a throat clearing made Hermione open her eyes, and in front of her stood a 20-something Molly Weasley, not nearly as plump as Hermione remembered her, bouncing baby Bill on her hip.

Hermione couldn't mask the strangled sound that came from her throat and Molly reacted with understandable alarm. Hermione covered her mouth with her hand and sprinted back out the door, nearly running Remus over in the process.

Molly looked on with a shocked expression. "Why on Earth did she look at me as though she saw a ghost? She directed the question at Lily.

Lily's eyes were full of tears as Hermione's reaction sunk in. "Because she has," she said softly.

Draco took this moment to steal away and slipped out the door after Hermione, who was doubled over the side of the walkway throwing up the contents of her last meal. He didn't say a word, only began to rhythmically rub her back until Hermione could only dry heave on her empty stomach.

Wiping her mouth she finally turned to face him. "I can't do this," she said in a hollow voice.

Draco cringed at her tone. "Don't say that," he told her softly. "You know you can."

"I can't!" Hermione's voice went slightly shrill and she began pulling at her hair. "That's Ron's mom. His mom! What the hell am I doing? How can I face these people with the knowledge I have? This isn't right, this is the reason time travel is monitored so closely. I can't do this, I can't tell her she's going to lose all her children...I-" Hermione abandoned tugging at her hair and instead covered her face with her hands, ashamed to fall to pieces like this in front of Draco Malfoy.

"Hermione," Draco gently took both of her hands in his and gently brought them to her sides, holding them firmly in place so she would look at him.

"Isn't that why you are here?" he asked. "Look at me, you're beginning to over-think things. You can't do that now, not now that we're so involved. You'll drive yourself crazy with all the what-ifs, think about the one what-if you've been granted. What if you can save them all? What would you do if you had the opportunity to save them all? You took it, what are you going to do with it?"

His voice came out slightly harsher than he had intended, but it was what Hermione needed. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw set.

"Make things right," Hermione said in a voice that was stronger than before. "Save lives, I can't ruin them anymore than they are-" She faltered. "I can't ruin their lives, they're dead. I'm going to save their lives."

Draco released the grip he had on her and stood back proudly as if to admire his work. "That's right. And you're going to start right now. I'm sure the others filled them in on the basics, now you can look to Dumbledore for more guidance. You're not in this alone, you know. They may be ghosts where we come from, but here they are our allies."

Hermione gave him a faltering smile. "You're right," she said as she reached out for his hand. "I'm not alone."

Draco and Hermione re-entered the small house and James met Draco's eye to affirm everything was alright. Draco gave him the tiniest of nods and James indicated that the meeting would take place in the living room.

Hermione knew the way by heart, but allowed James to direct her where to sit. The furniture, she noticed, had not changed in the years to come. The throw pillows looked new, while the pictures that adorned the walls and mantle were those from Molly and Arthur's recent wedding, along with about half a dozen pictures of baby Bill, all swaddled in the dated attire of the wizard world. In the years to come those pictures would be replaced and added to; toddlers, teenagers, and finally the children starting to have children of their own.

Hermione shook herself out of her morbid thoughts and turned her attention on those that joined her in the living room. Dumbledore was perched serenely on an ottoman, while Molly and Arthur took up residence on a tattered love seat, Bill sitting contentedly on Molly's lap. Molly still eyed Hermione wearily while Lily, James, and Remus sat on a mismatched couch with Sirius at their feet. McGonagall was seated formally in an overstuffed armchair and pointedly avoiding Hermione's gaze. Hermione tried not to feel hurt by the rebuff, and instead turned her gaze to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked around at the gathered individuals and told them he was expecting a few more guests, and they should be along shortly.

Just as he said that, a knock came at the door followed by the stooped-over figure of Hagrid. Hermione tensed and Draco quickly grabbed her hand, willing his calm into her through the touch. Hermione relaxed and looked at Hagrid in awe.

He was still huge, and standing up inside the Burrow was impossible for him. Instead he walked somewhat hunch-backed to the living room where he plopped himself down with a thud beside Sirius and gave the younger man a grin. Even sitting cross legged on the floor he was a head taller than all the others around him. His beard was not quite so wild, and Hermione guessed that he had yet to completely give up the task of taming both his beard and his hair. His face seemed to have fewer lines, but for Hermione it was hard to tell. He had his pink umbrella conspicuously concealed in one of his pockets on the inside of his coat, and his eyes twinkled with child-like curiosity at the odd gathering around him.

Moments after Hagrid sat down a group of three other people darkened the doorway and let themselves in when Molly beckoned to them. Hermione realized immediately she was looking at Frank and Alice Longbottom. Neville in the years to come was the spitting image of his round-faced mother, but had the coloring of his father. Hermione could see they were very much in love, and an engagement ring glittered from Alice's left hand.

Before she could bite right through her tongue, however, the identity of the final person who had entered behind them registered in Hermione's weary mind.

Alastor Moody, with both eyes, two fully functional legs, and missing so many of the scars she had grown accustomed to that Hermione knew beyond a doubt that no other appearance in this past would startle her like Moody's.

Hermione had never taken the time to wonder how old Moody was. From his gnarled look in her own time she thought he must have been at least as old as Hagrid, perhaps older. This Moody was closer to Molly and Arthur's age, missing a bit of the hardened confidence she had grown accustomed to. That scared her. If the most accomplished auror she knew was still nearly as green as herself, how could she depend on him to be in her corner?

Dumbledore cleared his throat and addressed the room.

"Of course you're all wondering what brings us here today," he said mildly. "In recent months we have all noticed dark activity, the works of anti-muggle extremists and their like. My friends here-" He gestured to Draco and Hermione. "They have come to me with extraordinary information and an unbelievable tale. Be that as it may, I seem to have taken the precaution of warning myself to believe what they say, and I must implore you all to do the same. Miss Granger?"

Hermione stiffened and looked imploringly at Draco. Draco met her eyes and squeezed her hand tightly before letting her go, ushering her accomplish what she came here to do.

Hermione stayed seated, but looked around the small, crowded room with a blush creeping up her cheeks. She looked around the room at all her dead loved ones and nearly panicked until her eyes locked on a familiar pair of bright green eyes. Hermione focused on Harry through his mother and began her tragic story once more.

**(A/N) I apologize that the updates for this story are not timely whatsoever. This is more of a side project I work on when I can, and when inspiration strikes. I hope to do the story justice all the same :)**


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